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COMPLETE ANGLER. 




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FROK TEE ORIC-OTAZ BY UOVSMAS. BT THE NATIONAL GALLERY. 




BeingaDifcouTfeof 

F I S H and FISH IN G, 

Not unworthy trie peiufal of molt AngUrs. 

Simon Peter /aid, Igoafifhvng: and they fail, \Ve 
olfo wil go with thee. John 21 . 3. 



London, Printed by T. Maxey for Rich. MARRiOT,in 
' S.Dunftans Church -yard Fleetftrtet, 16 5?. 



COMPLETE ANGLER, 



THE CONTEMPLATIVE MAN'S RECREATION, 



IZAAK WALTON AND CHARLES COTTON. 

M * 

EDITED BY JOHN MAJOR. 




BOSTON: 
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. 

N 1866. 






One Hundred Copies printed. 



University Press: Welch, Bigelow, & Co., 
Cambridge. 



CONTENTS 



Introductory Essay i 

Author's Dedication to John Offley, Esq. . 37 

Author's Address to his Readers ... 41 



PART I. 
the first day. 

Chap. I. — A Conference betwixt an Angler, a 
Hunter, and a Falconer, each commending 
his Recreation 45 

the second day. 
Chap. II. — Observations of the Otter and Chub . 89 

THE THIRD DAY. 

Chap. III. — How to fish for, and to dress, the 

Chavender, or Chub 100 

Chap. IV. — Observations of the Nature and Breed- 
ing of the Trout, and how to fish for him. 
And the Milk-maid's Song .... 107 

THE THIRD AND FOURTH DAYS. 

Chap. V. — More Directions how to fish for, and how 
to make for the Trout an Artificial Min- 
now and Flies, with some Merriment . -122 



VI CONTENTS. 

THE FOURTH DAY. 

Chap. VI. — Observations of the Umber or Gray- 
ling, and Directions how to fish for them . 166 

Chap. VII. — Observations of the Salmon, with Di- 
rections how to fish for him . . . - . .169 

Chap. VIII. — Observations of the Luce or Pikk, 

with Directions how to fish for him . . .173 

Chap. IX. — Observations of the Carp, with Direc- 
tions how to fish for him . . . . .192 

Chap. X. — Observations of the Bream, and Direc- 
tions to catch him ...... 202 

Chap. XI. — Observations of the Tench, and Advice 

how to angle for him . . . . .210 

Chap. XII. — Observations of the Pearch, and Di- 
rections how to fish for him . . . .214 

Chap. XIII. — Observations of the Eel, and other 

Fish that want scales, and how to fish for them 220 

Chap. XIV. — Observations of the Barbel, and Di- 
rections how to fish for him .... 229 

Chap. XV. — Observations of the Gudgeon, the 
Ruffe, and the Bleak, and how to fish for 
them ......... 235 

Chap. XVI. — Is of nothing, or that which is noth- 
ing worth . . ... . . . 239 

THE FIFTH DAY. 

Chap. XVII. — Of Roach and Dace, and how to fish 

for them ; and of Cadis 248 

Chap. XVIII. — Of the Minnow or Penk, of the 
Loach, and of the Bull-Head, or Miller's- 
Thumb 260 

Chap. XIX. — Of several Rivers, and some Observa- 
tions of Fish . . . . . . . 265 



CONTENTS. Vll 

Chap. XX. — Of Fish-Ponds, and how to order 

them 270 

Chap. XXI. — Directions for making of a Line, and 

for the coloring of both Rod and Line . -274 



PART II. 

instructions how to angle for a trout or 
grayling in a clear stream. 

The First Day 293 

The Second Day 314 

The Third Day 367 

Linn^ean Arrangement of the Fish . . 383 
Original and Selected Notes * . . . . 389 
General Index 439 

* In these notes, in addition to much biographical and historical in- 
formation, will be found the Various Readings of the Editions pub- 
lished in the lifetime of the Author. 



LIST OF EMBELLISHMENTS. 



ENGRAVINGS ON STEEL. 

i. Portrait of Izaak Walton, from the original, by Hous- 
MAN, in the National Gallery, copied by C. R. Bone ; 
engraved by Henry Robinson . . To face Title. 

2. Portrait of Charles Cotton, from an original Minia- 

ture by Sir Peter Lely, drawn by H. Corbould 
and K. Meadows ; alluding to his character, as an 
Angler, a Poet, a Lover, and a Bacchanalian. Engraved 
by Henry Robinson . To face the Title to Part n. 

3. Fac-simile of the original Title, 1653. Engraved by W. 

Collard. The type-letter carefully copied by F. P. 
BECKER. To precede the Dedication to John Offley, Esq. 

4. The Salutation at Tottenham Cross . To face page 45 
The Hostess . . . . . . . 98 

The Milkmaid's Song . . . . .118 

Landing the Trout ... . . . . 141 

The Scholar's" Recital . . . . '. .217 

The Angler's Song ...... 245 

The Farewell at Tottenham Cross . . . 284 

Landing the Grayling ..... 335 

The Lesson . . . . . . . 355 



LIST OF EMBELLISHMENTS. 

ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD. 

PART I. 

Ye Finny Tribes, by Nature gay, 
That sport beneath the noontide ray, 
Live ye I as erst (in Memory's eye) 
When love was young, and hope was high : 
Renew, in thought, each sylvan scene, 
On which my Mary smiled serene, — 
Whom but to think I once possest 
Makes yet the sunshine of my breast. 

Charterhouse, Jan. 2d, 1843. 



J. M. 



i. View from Lea Bridge,* drawn uy T. CRESWICK, 

A.R.A In the Title. 

2. Portraits of Donne, Wotton, Hooker, Her- 

bert, and Sanderson, whose Lives were writ- 
ten by Walton, drawn by J. W. Archer . i 

3. Autograph of Charles Cotton . ... 6 
4. Izaak Walton .... 7 

5. Seal-ring, — a memorial -bequest from Sir H. Davy 

to his friend, W. H. Pepys, Esq. ... 26 

6. Additional Autograph of Walton, and engraving 

of a Seal given to him by Dr. Donne . . 33 

* The views on the River Dove accompanying Part II. were most 
kindly placed at my disposal by my friend John L. Anderdon, Esq. 
Being the result of several journeys made in the very spirit of Pilgrim- 
age to those romantic spots, they form a very interesting illustration. 
I have also induced T. Creswick, Esq., to make repeated visits to the 
Lea, in order that this edition may boast a full display of the actual 
scenery of both parts of this tranquillizing book. 



X LIST OF EMBELLISHMENTS. 

7. Old Houses in Fleet Street, including the residence 

of Walton . . ..... 36 

8. View of Madeley Manor, drawn by J. W. Archer 39 

9. The Angler's Study, drawn by K. Meadows, Esq. 44 

10. View of Ware on the River Lea, drawn by T. 

Creswick, A.R.A. . . .' . . 45 

11. Initial Letter to Chapter I. alluding to its contents 

of Angling, Hunting, and Hawking, drawn by J. 

W. Archer . -45 

12. Montaigne playing with his Cat, drawn by K. 

Meadows, Esq 49 

13. Portrait of Elias Ashmole, Esq. . . 72 

These portraits of eminent men "of wisdom, learning, 
and experience," many of them personal friends of the 
author, were drawn on the blocks from the best author- 
ities, by J. W. Archer. 

14. Portrait of Dean No well, who " spent a tenth 

part of his time in Angling " . . . .82 

15. View of Amwell Hill and Bridge over the New 

River, near Ware, drawn by T. Creswick, 
A.R.A 88 

16. The Otter, drawn from the life at the Zoological 

Gardens (with permission), by J. W. Archer, 
Esq. The animal was in the act of devouring 
a fish at the time ...... 90 

17. The Chub, from an original painting by W. 

Smith 97 

These fish, with a few exceptions, are drawn on the 
blocks by Alexander Fussell, from the originals, 
painted by A. Cooper, Esq., R.A., and W. Smith, 
Esq., expressly for this work, and now in the possession 
of my friend, W. Yarrell, Esq. 



LIST OF EMBELLISHMENTS. XI 

18. Portrait of W. Camden, Esq., from "Morgan's 

Sphere of Gentry " ...... 99 

19. View of Broxbourn, on the River Lea, by T. 

. Creswick, A.R.A. . . . . . 106 

20. Skegger Trout, from an original Painting by W. 

Smith 108 

21. Portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh . . . 121 

22. The Trout, from an original Painting by A. 

Cooper, R.A. 123 

23. A Gypsy Camp, drawn by K. Meadows, Esq. 165 

24. The Grayling, from an original Painting by W. 

Smith 167 

25. Portrait of Ulysses Aldrovandus . . 168 

26. The Salmon, from an original Painting by A. 

Cooper, R. A. 173 

27. View of Waltham Abbey, by T. Creswick, 

A.R.A. 177 

28. The Pike, from an original Painting by A. Coop- 

er, R.A 184 

29. Portrait of Lord Bacon . . . . 191 

30. The Carp, from an original Painting by Geo. 

Lance, Esq., in the possession of W. J. Brod- 
ERIP, Esq., drawn on the block by J. W. 
Archer, under the superintendence of the 
painter himself. Exhibited at the British In- 
stitution, 1844 ...... 197 

31. Portrait of Conrad Gesner .... 201 

32. The Bream, from an original Painting by W. 

Smith 203 

33. View on the Lea, Mrs. Bullin's Cottage, Ching- 

ford, by T. Creswick, A.R.A. . . .210 

34. The Tench, from an original Painting by A. 

Cooper, R.A. 212 



XIV LIST OF EMBELLISHMENTS. 

69. Source of the Dove, with Explorers drinking to 

the immortal Memory of Walton and Cotton 382 

The above are from the original drawings of Messrs. 
Gompertz and Leitch, in the collection of John L. 
Anderdon, Esq., mentioned at page ix. ante. The 
whole were drawn on the blocks for the Engravers by 
J. W. Archer. 

70. The Pearch, from a Painting of a remarkably fine 

specimen of this fish, by F. R. Lee, Esq., 
R.A., in the possession of W. J. Broderip, 
Esq 388 



IN THE NOTES. 

71. The Walton Chamber in Beresford Hall, alluded 

to p. 300, &c. ...... 389 

72. Music to the Angler's Song .... 430 

73. View of Theobald's, copied by J. W. Archer, 

from the ' ' Vetusta Monumenta "... 438 

74. The Weatheixock, with the wind in the "right 

quarter," by K. Meadows, Esq. . . . 445 



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INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



T F there were a single circumstance by which the 
fame of those " honorable men," the effigies of 
whom now face the reader, could possibly be en- 
hanced, it was that of having for their biographer 
one who, with the soundest judgment, possessed a 
sweetness of disposition ever inclining to the bright 
side of things, a veracity not to be questioned, and 
a felicity of expression peculiarly his own : thus gifted, 
like the skilful artist, at once both flattering and faith- 
ful, he brought to the task of delineation that delicacy 
due to family feeling, combined with the justice de- 
manded by strict impartiality : the existence and the 
application, therefore, of such rare qualities are equally 
the subject of exultation. 

On the other hand, that Izaak WALTON should 
have been deemed by his contemporaries the fittest 
of all persons to perform so important a task, were 
sufficient, by reflection alone, to insure to himself an 
imperishable name ; the pictorial allusion, therefore, 



2 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

at the head of this Introductory Essay will probably 
be deemed particularly appropriate : it contains the 
portraits of Dr. John Donne, Mr. George Herbert, 
Bishop Sanderson, Mr. Richard Hooker, and Sir 
Henry Wotton, whose lives, at different times, were 
written by Walton. 

The praise bestowed on the Life of Dr. Donne 
by Dr. King, afterwards Bishop of Winchester, in a 
letter to Walton himself, is equally applicable to the 
rest: — "I am glad that the general demonstration 
of his worth was so fairly preserved and represented 
to the world by your pen, in the history of his life ; 
indeed, so well, that, beside others, the best critic 
of our later time, Mr. John Hales of Eaton, affirmed 
to me he had not seen a life written with more ad- 
vantage to the subject, or reputation to the writer, 
than that of Dr. Donne." 

The posthumous fame of these lives so well ac- 
cords with this contemporary applause, that they are 
to be found in almost every respectable library; yet 
it were unpardonable on the occasion of this at- 
tempt * to give additional popularity to our author's 
inimitable work of the Complete Angler, not to re- 

* The attempt was so successful, as to leave me forever indebted to 
the whole body of the public press. Dr. Southey also spoke of this 
humble Essay in terms too flattering to be here adduced ; but I must 
crave pardon for the necessary egotism of a few other notes. Twenty- 
one years having now elapsed, and three editions become scarce, I 
have, in the endeavor yet further to increase the popularity of this 
work, again the co-operation of a host of talent and a world of kind- 
ness ! — while the stanchest Waltonians have looked on, free from 
jealousy, and anxious only to see their beloved author made as at- 
tractive as possible to the rising generation. 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 3 

mind the reader that he has other claims to literary 
reputation than those derived from this truly felicitous 
achievement. 

In both instances he became an author by mere 
chance. Sir Henry Wotton had undertaken to write 
the life of Dr. Donne, and had requested Walton 
to assist him in collecting materials for that pur- 
pose ; but Sir Henry dying before it was completed, 
Walton undertook it himself, and succeeded so fully 
to the satisfaction of the most learned men of his 
time, that it was to be attributed to their importu- 
nity, rather than to his own ambition, that he per- 
formed the same office for his "dear friend Sir 
Henry " himself, and those other eminent men whose 
names have just been enumerated. 

Sir Henry Wotton too, as it appears from the 
Dedication of the Complete Angler to John Offley,* 
Esq., had intended " to write a discourse of the Art 
and in praise of Angling, and," continues Walton, 
"doubtless he had done so, if death had not pre- 
vented him ; the remembrance of which hath often 
made me sorry : for if he had lived to do it, then the 
unlearned angler had seen some better treatise of this 
art, a treatise that might have proved worthy his 
perusal, which, though some have undertaken, I could 
never yet see in English." 

Here again our modest author finds an excuse for 

* This gentleman, whose ancestors had been settled at Madeley 
Manor as early as the year 1237, married the heiress of the Crewes, 
of Crewe Hall, and was the progenitor of the present Lord Crewe. 
The family is connected by marriages with the noble houses of Has- 
tings, Powis, and Wilton. 



4 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

the undertaking of a work, of which it seems almost 
too weak a praise to say, that its parallel could 
scarcely have been hoped for, even from the ele- 
gant mind of Sir Henry Wotton himself. 

Our author, who was born at Stafford in 1593, 
but who lived the greatest part of his time in Lon- 
don, published the first edition of this celebrated 
work in 1653, and lived to see it go through no less 
than five editions ; the last of which, in 1676, was 
accompanied by a Second Part, written by his inti- 
mate friend and adopted son, Charles Cotton of 
Beresford Hall, in the County of Stafford, Esq. 
This Second Part, in which Mr. Cotton, from his 
local opportunities, was enabled to treat more at 
large on Fly-fishing than Walton had proposed to 
do, forms an important part of the work, in more 
than one point of view ; but chiefly, as conveying 
the fullest evidence of that reverence, and almost 
homage, which its accomplished author entertained 
for the character of Walton. 

The Fishing-house on the banks of the Dove 
seems to have been built expressly to perpetuate 
the memory of their friendship ; the motto over its 
door was " Piscatoribus sacrum" with the initials of 
Walton and Cotton interwoven in a cipher upon 
the keystone of the building, and the same cipher 
was, by Mr. Cotton's desire, placed in the title-page 
of the first edition of his portion of the work, and 
has been continued in all those since published. 

This part of our history will be fully illustrated by 
the following short epistles which passed on the occa- 






INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 5 

sion - y and the opportunity is taken of giving the sig- 
natures in the genuine autographs of the authors, — ■ 
that of Walton being also introduced, with a more en- 
larged specimen of his handwriting, in another place. 

To my most worthy Father and Friend, Mr. Izaak 
Walton, the Elder. 
Sir, — 
Being you were pleased, some years past, to grant me 
your free leave to do what I have here attempted, and 
observing you never retract any promise, when made in 
favor even of your meanest friends, I accordingly expect 
to see these following particular directions for the taking 
of a trout to wait upon your better and more general 
rules for all sorts of angling : and, though mine be neither 
so perfect, so well digested, nor indeed so handsomely 
couched, as they might have been, in so long a- time as 
since your leave was granted, yet I dare affirm them to 
be generally true ; and they had appeared too in something 
a neater dress, but that I was surprised with the sudden 
news of a sudden new edition of your Complete Angler ; so 
that, having but a little more than ten days' time to turn 
me in, and rub up my memory, for, in truth, I have not, 
in all this long time, though I have often thought on 't, and 
almost as often resolved to go presently about it, I was 
forced upon the instant to scribble what I here present 
you ; which I have also endeavored to accommodate to 
your own method. And, if mine be clear enough for the 
honest Brothers of the Angle readily to understand, which 
is the only thing I aim at, then I have my end, and shall 
need to make no further apology : a writing of this kind 
not requiring, if I were master of any such thing, any 
eloquence to set it off or recommend it ; so that if you, 



6 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

in your better judgment, or kindness rather, can allow it 
passable, for a thing of this nature, you will then do me 
honor, if the Cipher, fixed and carved in the front of my 
little fishing-house, may be here explained : and to per- 
mit me to attend you in public, who, in private, have ever 
been, am, and ever resolve to be, sir, 

Your most affectionate son and servant, 




^otko/TaZ^l. ////^j^ ,. 



/ 



To my most honored Friend, CHARLES COTTON, Esq. 
Sir,— 

You now see I have returned you your very pleasant 
and useful discourse of the Art of Fly-fishing, printed just 
as it was sent me : for I have been so obedient to your 
desires, as to endure all the praises you have ventured to 
fix upon me in it. And when I have thanked you for 
them, as the effects of an undissembled love, then let 
me tell you, sir, that I will really endeavor to live up to 
the character you have given of me ; if there were no other 
reason, yet for this alone, that you, that love me so well, 
and always think what you speak, may not, for my sake, 
suffer by a mistake in your judgment. 

And, sir, I have ventured to fill a part of your margin, 
by way of paraphrase, for the reader's clearer understand- 
ing the situation, both of your Fishing-house, and the pleas- 
antness of that you dwell in. And I have ventured also to 
give him a copy of verses that you were pleased to send 
me, now some years past ; in which he may see a good 
picture of both ; and so much of your own mind, too, as 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 7 

will make any reader that is blest with a generous soul 
to love you the better. I confess, that for doing this 
you may justly judge me too bold : if you do, I will say 
so too ; and so far commute for my offence, that, though 
I be more than a hundred miles from you, and in the 
eighty-third year of my age, yet I will forget both, and 
next month begin a pilgrimage to beg your pardon ; for I 
would die in your favor ; and till then will live, sir, 
Your most affectionate father and friend, 



Loudon, 
April 2Qfk, 1676. 



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With this enlarged edition also appeared, for the 
first time, the following beautiful verses, exhibiting 
as favorable a specimen of Cotton's poetical powers 
as his whole works could supply. 



THE RETIREMENT, 

IRREGULAR STANZAS, 
ADDRESSED TO 

MR. IZAAK WALTON. 



FAREWELL, thou busy world ! and may 
We never meet again : 
Here I can eat, and sleep, and pray, 
And do more good in one short day, 
Than he, who his whole age outwears 
Upon the most conspicuous theatres, 
Where naught but vanity and vice do reign. 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



Good God ! how sweet are all things here ! 
How beautiful the fields appeal- ! 

How cleanly do we feed and lie ! 
Lord ! what good hours do we keep ! 
How quietly we sleep ! 

What peace ! what unanimity ! 
How innocent from the lewd fashion 
Is all our business, all our recreation ! 

III. 

O how happy here 's our leisure ! 
O how innocent our pleasure ! 
O ye valleys ! O ye mountains ! 
O ye groves, and crystal fountains ! 
How I love at liberty, 
By turns, to come and visit ye ! 

IV. 

Dear Solitude, the soul's best friend, 

That man acquainted with himself dost make, 

And all his Maker's wonders to entend, 

With thee I here converse at will, 

And would be glad to do so still ; 

For it is thou alone that keep'st the soul awake. 

v. 
How calm and quiet a delight 

Is it alone 
To read, and meditate, and write ; 

By none offended, and offending none ! 
*To walk, ride, sit, or sleep at one's own ease, 
And, pleasing a man's self, none other to displease ! 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 9 

VI. 
O my beloved Nymph ! fair Dove ! 
Princess of Rivers ! how I love 

Upon thy flowery banks to lie, 
And view thy silver stream, 
When gilded by a summer's beam, 

And in it all thy wanton fry 

Playing at liberty ; 
And, with my angle upon them, 

The all of treachery 

I ever learned industriously to try. 

VII. 

Such streams, Rome's yellow Tiber cannot show, 

The Iberian Tagus, or Ligurian Po ; 

The Maese, the Danube, and the Rhine, 

Are puddle-water all, compared with thine ; 

And Loire's pure streams yet too polluted are 

With thine much purer to compare ; 

The rapid Garonne, and the winding Seine, 

Are both too mean, 

Beloved Dove, with thee 

To vie priority ; 

Nay, Thame and Isis when conjoined submit, 

And lay their trophies at thy silver feet. 

VIII. 
O my beloved rocks, that rise 
To awe the earth and brave the skies ! 
From some aspiring mountain's crown, 

How dearly do I love, 
Giddy with pleasure, to look down, 

And from the vales to view the noble heights above ! 



IO INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

O my beloved caves ! from Dog-star's heat, 

And all anxieties, my safe retreat ; 

What safety, privacy, what true delight, 

In th' artificial night 

Your gloomy entrails make, 

Have I taken, do I take ! 

How oft, when grief has made me fly 

To hide me from society, 

Ev'n of my dearest friends, have I 

In your recesses' friendly shade 

All my sorrows open laid, 
And my most secret woes intrusted to your privacy ! 

IX. 

Lord ! would men let me alone, 
What an over -happy one 

Should I think myself to be, 
Might I, in this desert place, 
Which most men in discourse disgrace, 

Live but undisturbed and free ! 
Here, in this despised recess, 

Would I, maugre Winter's cold, 
And the Summer's worst excess, * 

Try to live out to sixty full years old ! 
And all the. while, 

Without an envious eye, 
On any thriving under Fortune's smile 

Contented live, and then — contented die. 

C. C. 

But, notwithstanding the purity of sentiment con- 
tained in these verses, we are compelled to add that 
the virtuous aspirations of the poet were rendered 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. II 

.vain by a general want of economy in his affairs : 
thus forming a striking contrast to those of the prac- 
tical moralist, whom we cannot help wishing he 
had been able to imitate in a degree more consist- 
ent with his truly creditable admiration. Neverthe- 
less, their connection was highly honorable to them 
both ; it is beautiful to fancy the cheerful sage re- 
laxing to accommodate himself to the comparatively 
dissipated man of fashion, who, on the other hand, 
seems to have held himself as it were in a course 
of reformation, in compliment to his indulgent friend : 
nothing can be finer than his carrying this temper 
to the length of making his acceptableness to Wal- 
ton the test of his general worthiness. See Part II. 
Chap. I. : " My father Walton will be seen twice in 
no man's company he does not like, and likes none 
but such as he believes to be very honest men ; 
which is one of the best arguments, or at least one 
of the best testimonies I have, that I either am, or 
that he thinks me, one of those, seeing I have not 
yet found him weaiy of me." 

Yet here we cannot refrain from the remark, that 
Walton triumphs over his coadjutor as much in the 
true aims of genius as in moral worth ; having im- 
mortalized himself by a work which he produced by 
mere accident ! — whilst Cotton, though almost an 
author by profession, having chosen disgusting top- 
ics for many of his original compositions, now lives 
chiefly in connection with the name of his venerable 
friend : — or, to say the least, the benign influence 
of a virtuous association was never more strikingly 



12 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

illustrated, since his devoted attachment to "Walton 
forms the best evidence we have of his naturally- 
amiable disposition, and a more honorable, if not a 
more certain immortality, is, on his part, the issue 
of this ever-memorable friendship ; and yet it has 
been recently and justly observed, that a judicious 
selection of his poems would stamp him as first rate 
with the present age ; though his capacity to vie 
with the most licentious wits of his own times in- 
jured his performances, taken as a whole — his Muse 
was truly " fond to inspire " if sometimes " ashamed 
to avow " — he flew to his pen upon all occasions, 
and was so ready at it, that he could disclose all 
his troubles, and his own noble, generous, jovial, 
and even thankful temper in half a score lines, as 
in the following part of an epistle to his friend Sir 
Clifford Clifton. 

' ' He 's good fellow enough to do every one right, 
And never was first that asked what time of night ; 
His delight is to toss the can merrily round, 
And loves to be wet, but hates to be drowned ; 
He fain would be just, but sometimes he cannot, 
Which gives him the trouble that other men ha' not ; 
He honors his friend, but he wants means to show it, 
And loves to be rhyming, but is the worst poet. 
Yet among all these vices, to give him his due, 
He has virtue to be a true lover of you ; 
But how much he loves you, he says you may guess it, 
Since nor prose nor yet metre he swears can express it ! " 

Right pithily, also, has honest Charles anticipated 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 1 3 

as full a reply as will ever be necessary to all revilers 
of his favorite recreation : — 

" We care not who says, 

And intends it dispraise, 
That an angler to a fool is next neighbor ; 

Let him prate ; what care we ; 

We 're as honest as he, 
And so let him take that for his labor ! " * 

But to return to Walton, who must have often 
lamented the misfortunes of his adopted son. 

The precise situation in life in which Walton was 
placed has unfortunately never reached posterity ; 
and, with due deference to his earliest biographers, 
we cannot help thinking it has been fixed in too 
humble a sphere. 

Sir John Hawkins speaks of a deed dated 1624, 
by which it appears that his house in Fleet Street 
was in the joint occupation of Izaak Walton and John 
Mason, Hosier; "whence," says Sir John, "we may 
conclude, that half a shop was sufficient for the busi- 
ness of Walton." Now to this deduction we by no 
means agree ; but in unison with the tradition in his 
family, that he was " a wholesale Linen-draper or 
Hamburgh Merchant" would much rather infer that 

* As for that morbid sensibility which rails at angling on the score of 
cruelty, let us rely on the defence of the invincibly reasoning Armstrong, 
— it was neither made on behalf of Walton or Cotton, but injustice to 
God and for all mankind ! 

"There are who think these pastimes scarce humane, 
Yet in my mind (and not relentless I) 
His life is pure that wears no /onler stains.'" 



14 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

Izaak Walton (it is to be observed that his name is 
mentioned first in the said deed) had let a part of 
his house to the said John Mason, his own business 
not requiring the public exposure of -his goods. 

Be this as it might, we have the pleasure of pre- 
senting the reader with a genuine view of the house 
rendered so truly interesting as the dwelling of our 
author ; the curious in London topography will rec- 
ognize the corner house, in the print annexed to this 
Essay, as the southwest end of Chancery Lane, Fleet 
Street, as it appeared till within about the last six- 
teen years. The third west from the corner is con- 
sidered as the identical house of Walton, whilst the 
view at the same time contains a glance of the 
curious old houses up Chancery Lane, in one of 
which he also resided about ten years after the above 
date. It is probably the only correct delineation, 
extant, having been drawn on the spot by the late 
Mr. Smith of the British Museum, whose superi- 
ority in topographical delineation is particularly well 
known. 

Again, we find some of our author's biographers 
full of wonder at the extent and high respectability 
of his connections, particularly among the superior 
clergy of his time ; — it is true that this distinction 
is ascribed to the most honorable sources, integrity of 
character, and amiableness of disposition ; we are 
also apprised of the undoubted fact, that he was 
brother-in-law to the amiable Bishop Ken, whilst 
his direct consanguinity with Archbishop Cranmer 
himself is (although erroneously) insisted on. By 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 15 

extraordinary ingenuity, therefore, mystery has been 
created out of the very circumstances calculated to 
afford elucidation ; for what is this but presenting 
Walton to us in the midst of his own relations and 
family friends ? * proving him to have been in a 
walk of life, whatever it exactly was, consistent even 
with their alliance, as well as countenance and pro- 
tection ! To reason but a little further, (see only the 
list of intimates named in his will !) he appears 
to have known almost everybody who was worth 
knowing ! — and were it not that there seems to be 
no record of his intimacy with the congenially-minded 
Evelyn, we should apply to him what was said by 
Johnson of Congreve : — " He lived only for himself 
and his friends, and amongst his friends he was able 
to name almost every man of his time whom wit or 
elegance had raised to reputation ! " 

That he was bred to trade may be accounted for, 
either from the circumstance of his father's dying 
when he was only two years old, or even from his 
own choice ; and that there existed no necessary in- 
compatibility between the character he held and that 
of a gentleman, surely he may be said to have de- 
monstrated, of whom that which is most certainly 

* Even of John Offley, Esq. (see ante, p. 3 1 , it is stated by Sir H. 
Nicolas, " He dedicated the work to John Offley of Madeley Manor 
in Staffordshire, Esquire," his most honored friend, "who, there is 
ground for supposing, was remotely related to him." In another 
place, Sir Harris also observes: "This dedication is not the only evi- 
dence of a personal acquaintance between the families of Walton and 
Offley: a John Offley proved the will o{ Agnes Walton of the parish 
of Madeley on the 22.A of April, 1573." 



1 6 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

known would do honor to any station whatever. 
His "only son Isaac" we find bred to the church, 
seemingly as a matter of course ; and that his only 
daughter was married to a dignified clergyman, Dr. 
Hawkins of Winchester, strengthens all the forego- 
ing arguments.*" 

All these particulars we are enabled to collect, not- 
withstanding that history and tradition are equally 
parsimonious respecting this extraordinary man ; 
wherever conjecture, therefore, supplies, of necessity, 
the place of fact, let us in the name of goodness 
(which were but synonymous with saying in the name 
of Izaak Walton) regulate our decisions with one 
constant view to his immortal honor ! There is, at 

* But I have now the pleasure of recording a very interesting new 
fact relating to our author. So lately as June, 1844, a paper- — by John 
Nicholl, Esq., of Islington, F. S. A., and of the Worshipful Company 
of Ironmongers — was read by Sir Henry Ellis, disclosing as follows: 
"1617-18, Isaac Walton was made one of the Ironmongers' Co7n- 
pany, by Thomas Grinsell, Citizen and Ironmonger." This may be 
relied on, whether he had been previously apprenticed to Henry Wal- 
ton or not, — "but it does not appear when he was bound or turned 
over to Grinsell." This tempting "item" was seized by our keen 
antiquary, with the eye of a hawk and the avidity of a perch; — and 
he has declared to some of his friends, that he is more pleased with 
the discovery than with any other result of his researches among the 
archives of his ancient fraternity. Walton was then about twenty- 
four years of age, before which, in those days, no one could take up 
his freedom. Here, . then, we have the very first event of his man- 
hood that can be confirmed by a date; — and I still contend that he 
must have been surrounded by guardian friends, in every part of his 
prosperous career. No further evidence is needed than that of his will 
to show that the family of Grinsell or Grinsells were relations ; — for 
amongst those to whom he leaves memorial rings there is this item, — 
"to my cosen Grinsells widow." 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. I 7 

least, one delightful reflection to be drawn from the 
internal evidence of his own work: — he did really 
and substantially enjoy, in his own person, that true 
happiness which he would teach us all to acquire : 
with that genuine, philosophical spirit which is 
worthy of universal imitation, he sought his beloved 
independence in the limitation of his wants, rather 
than by aiming at the acquirement of large posses- 
sions ; his book, as he himself tells us, is a picture 
of his own mind, and had that book been called 
"The Divine Art of Contentment," or "The True 
Christian Philosopher," its principal contents would 
have justified either of those titles, equally with that 
in which his modesty dictated its setting forth. 

Thus has this delightful work, notwithstanding its 
unassuming title, excited from the first a most com- 
manding attention ; and may be said to have risen 
in public estimation, even to this very hour. 

The selection of a few passages from his various 
editors and disinterested eulogists will best prove 
the assertion ; a slight glance, however, at the ear- 
liest English work on Angling, seems to be first 
necessary, for the sake of those of our readers who 
may have been, hitherto, totally unacquainted with 
Waltonian lore. We allude to a tract, written by 
Dame Juliana Barnes, Prioress of the Nunnery of 
Sopewell, near St. Alban's, and entitled The Trea- 
ty se of Fysshinge with an Angle, being part of a 
book " known to the curious in typographical an- 
tiquities by the title of the Book of St. Alban's. 
Enpre7ited at Westmestre by Wynkyn dc Worde, in 



1 8 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

1496, in small Folio j the book consists of a treatise 
on Hawking, another on Hunting, which is all in 
verse ; a book wherein is determined the Lygnage of 
Cote Armures, the above-mentioned treatise of Fish- 
ing, and the method of Blasynge of Armes." 

The work is now of the most extreme rarity, yet 
it was doubtless well known to Walton, some of 
whose descriptions may be considered as paraphras- 
tic of the following beautiful passage, setting forth 
those incidental pleasures of the angler which exist 
quite independently of his taking fish, ■ — he having, 

" Atte the leest his holsom walke, and mery at 
his ease, a swete ayre of the swete savoure of the 
meede fioures that makyth him hungry ; he hereth 
the melodyous armony of fowles ; he seeth the 
yonge swannes, heerons, duckes, cotes, and many 
other foules, wyth their brodes ; whyche me semyth 
better than alle the noyse of houndys, the blastes 
of hornys, and the cryes of foulis, that hunters, 
fawkeners, and foulers can make. And if the angler 
take fysshe, surely then is there noo man merier 
than he is in his spyryte." 

It is also probable that Walton might borrow from 
Barker's "Art of Angling," first published in 1651,- 
the idea of making his work humorous and enter- 
taining ; but how fine is the contrast between the 
chastised mirth of a gentleman, and that of the mere 
droll ! — for poor Mr. Barker aspires to nothing 
higher. 

As for Walton's mo?'ality, it is almost entirely his 
own ; we cannot help noticing one remarkable in- 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 19 

stance of his propriety and delicacy of feeling; he 
is conscious that, for some very ardent minds, he 
may have made his descriptions too seductive, and 
consequently he takes especial care to furnish a hint 
which may serve for a corrective : it occurs near the 
commencement of Chapter V., where Peter says : " I 
will promise you I will sing another song in praise 
of angling to-morrow night, for we will not part .till 
then ; but fish to-morrow and sup together, and the 
next day every man leave fishing, and fall to his 
business / " 

This minute piece of admonition is rendered the 
more delicate from its timely utterance, being evi- 
dently meant to remind us that we should fix the 
requisite limits to our pleasures, even before their 
commencement. 

In resuming our purpose of pointing out the pro- 
gressive and still growing reputation of our author, 
it may be fairly premised that what we now present 
is to be viewed as the grateful feeling of posterity, 
in opposition to that contemporary applause which 
might be supposed to flow from favor or affection. 
By far the greater part of those copies of verses, pre- 
fixed, according to the custom of the time, to the 
earlier editions, by friends of the author, might be 
deemed liable to this exception ; besides that they, 
in general, partake too much of metaphysical con- 
ceit to continue their attendance on an author whose 
mind was as unsophisticated as his language was 
beautiful: — truly, indeed, may it be termed the "well- 
spring of English, pure and undefiledP 



20 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

The Reverend Moses Browne is the first writer 
whose remarks are applicable to our present view 
of the subject; he revived the "Complete Angler" 
after it had lain dormant for upwards of eighty years ; 
and this task, be it never forgotten, was performed 
at the instigation of Dr. Samuel Johnson ! Mr. 
Browne, in his Preface, shows a laudable anxiety 
that the work should be known as a literary pro- 
duction, and not as a mere book of fishing ; these 
are his words : — " Mi". Izaak Walton's Complete 
Angler, which (with the second part by Mr. Cotton, 
of equal scarcity and value, I have the satisfaction 
of restoring in the present manner to the public) 
has been always had in the greatest reputation, by 
such as are acquainted with books, and have any 
discerning in works of merit and nature. Not only 
the lovers of this art, but all * others, who have no 
inclinations in the least to the diversion of angling 
that it treats of, have joined in giving it their mu- 
tual suffrage and commendation." 

In the year 1760 appeared the first of those editions 
edited by Sir John Hawkins ; from whose Life of 
Walton prefixed, we extract the following encomium. 

* On the appearance of my first edition, in 1823, Mr. D'Israeli 
(who somewhere speaks of the "Doric sweetness of Izaak Walton") 
observed to me, " One often sees a pretty book which is interesting to a 
particular class ; but you have hit on a work that pleases everybody ! " 
And Mr. Alexander Chalmers was pleased to say, that I had given 
quite a new tone to the subject, and had "Waltonized the land." For 
my own part, I can only say, that I had long been asking myself, in 
the language of Abraham Cowley, "What shall I do to be forever 
known ? " and my good genius whispered, " Give your days and nights 
to emblazon the worth of Izaak Walton." 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 21 

"And let no man imagine, that a work on such 
a subject must, necessarily, be unentertaining, or 
trifling, or even uninstructive ; for the contrary will 
most evidently appear from a perusal of this excel- 
lent piece, which, whether we consider the elegant 
simplicity of the style, the ease and unaffected hu- 
mor of the dialogue, the lovely scenes which it de- 
lineates, the enchanting pastoral poetry which it 
contains, or the fine morality it so sweetly incul- 
cates, has hardly its fellow in any of the modern 
languages." 

From Walton's latest* and most copious biogra- 
pher, the Rev. Dr. Thomas Zouch, an equally hon- 
orable testimony is selected. 

"In this volume of the Complete Angler, which 
will be always read with avidity, even by those who 
entertain no strong relish for the art which it pro- 
fesses to teach, we discover a copious vein of inno- 
cent pleasantry and good-humor. The dialogue is 
diversified with all the characteristic beauties of collo- 
quial composition. The songs and little poems which 
are occasionally inserted will abundantly gratify the 
reader who has a taste for the charms of pastoral 
poetry. And above all, those lovely lessons of relig- 
ious and moral instruction, which are so repeatedly 
inculcated throughout the whole work, will ever rec- 
ommend this exquisitely pleasing performance." 

* Sir Harris Nicolas's elaborate and circumstantial Life of our 
author — so far as it was possible for the most industrious and skilful 
research to make it so — has appeared since the above was written. Sir 
Harris has here continued for Walton all that has been done in the 
way of literary and personal illustration for Shakespeare himself! 



2 2 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

Yet the enthusiastic admirer of Walton will be 
still more delighted with the wonder-working effects 
of his book, as set forth by that deservedly popular 
writer, Mr. Washington Irving ; whose applause, being 
that of a man of acknowledged taste and brilliant 
fancy, bespeaks its own peculiar value in pointing 
out our author's claims upon the present and suc- 
ceeding ages. 

From "The Sketch Book" of this gentleman, pub- 
lished under the assumed name of Geoffrey Crayon, 
we extract the following. 

" It is said that many an unlucky urchin is induced 
to run away from his family, and betake himself to 
a seafaring life, from reading the history of Robinson 
Crusoe ; and I suspect that, in like manner, many 
of those worthy gentlemen, who are given to haunt 
the sides of pastoral streams with angle-rods in hand, 
may trace the origin of their passion to the seductive 
pages of honest Izaak Walton. I recollect studying 
his ' Complete Angler ' several years since, in com- 
pany with a knot of friends in America, and more- 
over that we were all completely bitten with the 
angling mania. It was early in the year ; but as 
soon as the weather was auspicious, and that the 
spring began to melt into the verge of summer, we 
took rod in hand and sallied into the country, as 
stark mad as was ever Don Quixote from reading 
books of chivalry. 

> " One of our party had equalled the Don in the 
fulness of his equipments, being attired cap-a-pie 
for the enterprise. He wore a broad-skirted fustian 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 23 

coat, perplexed with half a hundred pockets ; a pair 
of stout shoes, and leathern gaiters ; a basket slung 
on one side for fish ; a patent rod ; a landing-net ; 
and a score of other inconveniences, only to be found 
in the true angler's armory. Thus harnessed for the 
field, he was as great a matter of stare and wonder- 
ment among the country folk, who had never seen 
a regular angler, as was the steel-clad hero of La 
Mancha among the goatherds of Sierra Morena. 

"Our first essay was along a mountain brook 
among the highlands of the Hudson : a most unfor- 
tunate place for the execution of those piscatory 
tactics which had been invented along the velvet 
margins of quiet English rivulets 

"For my part, I was always a bungler at all kinds 
of sport that required either patience or adroitness, 
and had not angled above half an hour before I 
had completely 'satisfied the sentiment,' and con- 
vinced myself of the truth of Izaak Walton's opinion, 
that angling is something like poetry, — a man must 
be born to it. I hooked myself instead of the fish ; 
tangled my line in every tree ; lost my bait ; broke 
my rod ; until I gave up the attempt in despair, and 
passed the day under the trees, reading old Izaak ; 
satisfied that it was his fascinating vein of honest 
simplicity and rural feeling that had bewitched me, 
and not the passion for angling 

" But above all, I recollect the ' good, honest, whole- 
some, hungry ' repast, which we made under a beech- 
tree, just by a spring of pure sweet water that stole 
out of the side of a hill ; and how, when it was over, 



24 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

one of the party read old Izaak Walton's scene with 
the milkmaid, while I lay on the grass and built 
castles in a bright pile of clouds until I fell asleep." 

The remainder of this elegant essay Mr. Irving 
devotes to the character of an old Cheshire angler ; 
he concludes : " I could not refrain from drawing the 
picture of this worthy 'brother of the angle,' who has 
made me more than ever in love with the theory, 
though I fear I shall never be adroit in the practice 
of his art." 

This is precisely the treatment of our author which 
agrees with our own views ; it requires not so much 
the love of angling, as a relish for the general charms 
of nature, to render any person of true taste delighted 
with his pages. We have consequently spared no 
effort to illustrate the literary and rural beauties of 
the work : our numerous topographical views,* with 
those other subjects which have been suggested to 
the various artists as the result of a long intimacy 
with these fascinating pages, it is hoped, can leave 
but little to be desired on this point, whilst the great 
pains which have been taken to insure correct de- 
lineations of the FISH, f (the whole having been 

* Greatly varied in the present edition. 

t The list of engravings will show that some entirely new specimens 
of fishes, by artists of the highest rank, are introduced in this fourth 
edition. But the new designs by Mr. Absolon form the crown of my 
present efforts ; nothing could exceed his zeal whilst they were on his 
ea,sel ; skilful anglers stood for the men, and fair and handsome ladies 
volunteered for the females : the result, I warmly anticipate, will come, 
with a pleasing surprise upon the minds of the most affectionate ad- 
mirers of our author. 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 25 

painted from nature expressly for this edition,) may 
add to the character of the work as connected with 
a popular branch of natural history : — truly may it 
be said (after allowing the painter, in each instance, 
due praise) that the "gravers" also 

"had a strife, 
With nature to outdo the life ! " 

The important and classical addition of the specific 
and generic characters will speak for itself to proceed 
from a most competent quarter. 

The notes, consistently with our view of the work, 
"in its more important character of a British Clas- 
sic," are devoted chiefly to the illustration of its 
literary merits ; and though we should deem it a sort 
of profanation to place them on the same page * 
with the text, we have most zealously endeavored to 
render them worthy of a distinct perusal. 

The frequent occurrence of eminent names through- 
out the work naturally leads us to reflect that the 
chief argument used by Walton in recommending his 
art — the " love and practice " of it by persons of 

* These notes having been much praised for their very comprehen- 
sive usefulness, considering the limited space, it is only due to the 
kind and friendly contributor (declining to be named) to acknowledge 
the careful revision of them, with valuable additions, on the present 
occasion ; and also to thank him for a re-collation of the text itself, by 
which it has been improved throughout. The bantling is, in truth, my 
own, but its sponsors are innumerable ; one kind patron, a gentleman 
of fortune, used to say to his friends, "You ?mest have this edition, 
for / have a share in it ! " and a total stranger once assured me that he 
had bestowed no less than six guineas on the binding of the work, as a 
specimen of the skill of Charles Lewis 



26 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

science and learning — is of the most permanent 
kind. The most ardent anglers of the present day 
will be found in the higher walks of genius and 
knowledge ; a host in himself, as it regards our 
purpose, it were superfluous to covet authorities in 
addition to that of the, now, in these enlightened 
days, illustrious President of the Royal Society ! * 

Again, for the honor of our author, let us not forget 
that the brilliant wit, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, is 
known to have declared that he never desired a bet- 
ter companion for post-chaise than this same Angler, 
or Contemplative Man's Recreation. 

Far indeed from singular is any man who imagines 
himself alone to have carried his enthusiasm for our 
author to exactly the proper pitch ! It seems as if 
there must yet exist a "friendly contention" about 
the mode of expressing it, — as to who shall be loud- 
est in his praise, who honor him most in every 
possible way ; thus he is daily more and more ap- 
preciated as an honor to the English character, — 
whilst his increasing popularity is doubtless an honor 
to the English people, who love him all the more, 
because (though far from devoid' of art) he drew — 
like his own nightingale — all his graces "from be- 

* Sir Humphrey Davy, (alas for Chantrey also !) 
since deceased. The annexed engraving is from a 
seal ring, which this ardent angler, a short time 
before his death, caused to be engraved "with a 
trout upon it," -and left to his friend, W. Hasel- 
dinc Pepys, Esq., F. R. S., " not as a mourning ring" but to be worn 
" in memory of the happy days they had passed together by the river 
side!" This was quite in the true " love-my-memory " spirit of our 
own Izaak himself ! 




INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 27 

yond its reach." In good truth, whoever drinks deep 
of the true spirit of our glorious Izaak will be at a 
loss whether most to admire the extreme clearness 
of his head or the extreme goodness of his heart. 

To a theme so pleasing, it requires much resolu- 
tion to fix the necessary bounds ; if space were 
allowed, we could greatly swell our collection of 
laudatory extracts, even from popular authors : but 
the reader must now be relieved by the perusal of 
our author's Will, — a composition illustrating equally 
his own benevolent character and the peculiar na- 
ture of his connections. 

Augrist the ninth, one thousand six hundred eighty-three. 

En the £amc of ffioU, 3mcn. I, IZAAK WALTON the 

elder, of Winchester, being this present day in the ninetyeth 
year of my age, and in perfect memoiy, for which praised 
be God, but considering how suddainly I may be deprived 
of both, do therefore make this my last Will and Testament 
as followeth : And first, I do declare my belief to be, that 
there is only one God, who hath made the whole world, and 
me and all mankind, to whom I shall give an account of all 
my actions, which are not to be justified, but I hope par- 
doned, for the merits of my Saviour yesits ; and because the 
profession of Christianity does, at this time, seem to be sub- 
divided into Papist and Protestante, I take it, at least, to be 
convenient to declare my belief to be, in all points of faith, 
as the Church of England now professeth : and this I do 
the rather, because of a very long and veiy true friendship 
with some of the Roman church. And for my worldly Es- 
tate (which I have neither got by falsehood, or flattery, or the 
extreme cruelty of the law of this nation) I do hereby give 



28 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

and bequeath it as followeth : First, I give my son in law, 
Doctor Hawkins, and to his wife, to them I give all my title 
and right of, or in a part of, a house and shop in Pater-noster- 
rozv, in London, which I hold by lease from the Loi'd 
Bishop of London for about fifty years to come. And I 
do also give to them all my right and title of or to a house 
in Chancery-lane, London, wherein Mrs. Greinwood now 
dwelleth, in which is now about sixteen years to come : I 
give these two leases to them, they saving my executor from 
all damage concerning the same. And I give to my son, 
Izaak, all my right and title to a lease of Norington Farme, 
which I hold from the Lord Bishop of Winton ; and I do 
also give him all my right and title to a farm or land near to 
Stafford, which I bought of Mr. Walter Nodi ; I say, I give 
it to him and his heirs forever ; but upon the condition fol- 
lowing, namely : if my son shall not many before he shall 
be of the age of forty and one years, or, being married, 
shall dye before the said age, and leave no son to inherit the 
said farme or land ; or if his son or sons shall not live to 
attain the age of twenty and one years, to dispose otherways 
of it ; then I give the said farme or land to the towne or 
corporation of Stafford, in which I was borne, for the good 
and benefit of some of the said towne, as I shall direct, and 
as followeth : (but first note, that it is at this present time 
rented for twenty-one pound ten shillings a year, and is like 
to hold the said rent, if care be taken to keep the barn and 
housing in repair ;) and I would have, and do give ten pound 
of the said rent, to bind out, yearly, two boys, the sons of 
honest and poor parents, to be apprentices to some trades- 
men or handicraft-men, to the intent the said boys may the 
better afterward get their own living. And I do also give 
five pound yearly, out of the said rent, to be given to some 
maid-servant, that hath attained the age of twenty and one 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 29 

year, not less, and dwelt long in one service, or to some 
honest poor man's daughter, that hath attained to that age, 
to be paid her at or on the day of her marriage : and this 
being done, my will is, that what rent shall remain of the 
said farme or land shall be disposed of as followeth : first I 
do give twenty shillings yearly, to be spent by the Major of 
Stafford, and those that shall collect the said rent, and dis- 
pose of it as I have, and shall hereafter direct ; and that 
what money or rent shall remain undisposed of, shall be ini- 
ployed to buy coals for some poor people, that shall most 
need them, in the said towne ; the said coals to be delivered 
the first weeke in January, or in every first weeke in Feb- 
ruary ; I say then, because I take that time to be the hard- 
est and most pinching times with poor people; and God 
reward those that shall do this without partialitie, and with 
honesty, and a good conscience. And if the said Major 
and others of the said towne of Stafford, shall prove so 
negligent, or dishonest, as not to imploy the rent by me 
given as intended and exprest in this my will, which God 
forbid, then I give the said rents and profits of the said 
farme or land to the towne and chief magistrates, or gov- 
ernors of Ecleshall, to be disposed of by them in such a 
manner as I have ordered the disposal of it by the towne 
of Stafford, the said farme or land being near the towne 
of Ecleshall. And I give to my son-in-law, Doctor Haw- 
kins, whom I love as my own son, and to my daughter, his 
wife, and my son Izaak, to each of them a ring, with these 
words or motto, ' ' Love my memory, I. W. obiit 

" to the Lord Bishop of Winton a ring, with this 
motto, ' ' A mite for a million, I. W. obiit 
and to the friends hereafter named, I give to each of them 
a ring, with this motto, " A friend'' s farewell, I. W. obiit 

" and my will is, the said rings be delivered 



30 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

within forty days after my death : and that the price of value 
of all the said rings shall be thirteen shillings and fourperice 
a-piece. I give to Doctor Hawkins Doctor Donne's Ser- 
mons, which I have heard preached, and read with much 
content. To my son Izaak, I give Doctor 'Sibbs his Soul's 
Conflict ; and to my daughter his Bruised Reed, desiring 
them to read them so as to be well acquainted with them. 
And I also give unto her all my books at Winchester and 
Droxford, and whatever in those two places are, or I can 
call mine, except a trunk of linnen, which I give to my son 
Izaak ; but if he do not live to marry, or make use of it, 
then I give the same to my grand-daughter, Ann Hawkins ; 
and I give my daughter, Doctor Halfs Works, which be 
now at Farnham. To my son Izaak, I give all my books, 
not yet given at Farnham Castell, and a deske of prints 
and pictures ; also a cabinett near my bed's head ; in which 
are some little things that he will value, though of no great 
worth.* And my will and desire is, that he will be kind to 
his aunt Beachame, and his aunt Rose Ken, by allowing the 
first about fifty shillings a year, in or for bacon and cheese, 
not more, and paying four pounds a-year towards the board- 
ing of her son's dyet to Mr. yohn Whitehead: for his aunt 
Ken, I desire him to be kind to her, according to her ne- 
cessity and his own abilitie, and I commend one of her 
children, to breed up as I have said I intend to do, if 
he shall be able to do it, as I know he will ; for they be 
good folke. I give to Mr. John Darbyshire the Sermons of 
Mr. Anthony Farringdon, or of Dr. Sanderson, which my 

* How many a " Grangerite " must have felt his mouth water at this 
passage, in the rational idea th~t W?l ton's good taste had selected in 
this small compass so many Faithornes, Elstrackes, Lombarts, &c, as 
would now fetch five hundred guineas under ihe hammer of Christie 
and Manson, or Leigh Sotheby and Wilkinson. 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 31 

executor thinks fit. To my servant, Thomas Edgill, I give 
five pound in money, and all my clothes, linen and woollen, 
except one suit of clothes : which I give to Mr. Holinshed, 
and forty shillings, if the said Thomas be my servant at my 
death ; if not, my clothes only. And I give my old friend, 
Mr. Richard Marriot, ten pounds in money, to be paid him 
within three months after my death ; and I desire my son to 
shew kindness to him if he shall neede, and my son can 
spare it : and I do hereby will and declare my son Izaak to 
be my sole executor of this my last will and testament, and 
Dr. Hawkins to see that he performs it ; which I doubt not 
but he will. I desire my burial may be near the place of my 
death, and free from any ostentation or charge, but privately. 
This I make to be my last will, to which I shall only add the 
codicil for rings, this sixteenth day of August, one thousand 
six hundred eighty-three, Izaak Walton. Witness to this will. 
The rings I give are as on the other side : to my 
brother John Ken, to my sister his wife, to my brother, 
Doctor Ken, to my sister Pye, to Mr. Francis Morley, to 
Mr. George Vernon, to his wife, to his three daughters, to 
Mistris Nelson, to Mr. Richard Walton, to Mr. Palmer, to 
Mr. Taylor, to Mr. Thos. Garrard, to the Lord Bishop of 
Sarum, to Mr. Rede his servant, to my cozen Dorothy Ken- 
rick, to my cousin Leiviu, to Mr. Walter Higgs, to Mr. 
Charles Cotton, to Mr. Richard Marryot : 22, to my brother 
Beacham, to my sister his wife, to the Lady Anne Hozu, to 
Mrs. King, Doctor Phillip's wife, to Mr. Valentine Hare- 
court, to Mrs. Eliza Johnson, to Mrs. Mary Rogers, to Mrs. 
Eliza Milward, to Mrs. Dorothy Wollop, to Mr. Will. Mil- 
ward, of Christ-Church Oxford, to Mr. John Darbyshirc, to 
Mr. Undevill, to Mrs. Rock, to Mr. Peter White, to Mr. 
John Lloyde, to my cousin GreiuseWs widow, Mrs. Dalbin 
must not be forgotten : 16, Izaak. Walton. Note, that sev- 



32 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

eral lines are blotted out of this will, for they were twice 
repeated : and that this will is now signed and sealed this 
twenty and fourth day of October, one thousand six hun- 
dred eighty-three, in the presence of us : Witness, Abrahani 
Alarkland, *Jos. Taylor, Thomas Crawley. 

This will was composed by him but a few months 
before his death, which took place on the 15th of 
December, 1683, at the house of his son-in-law, Dr. 
Hawkins, a Prebendary of Winchester, he having 
attained the great age of ninety years and four 
months. In the Cathedral of the same place is a 
gravestone to his memory, but with such "uncouth 
rhymes " and " shapeless sculpture " as but coldly to 
invite either delineation or transcription ; but in this 
respect we still hope to see justice done him : certain 
we are that this wonderful man is far from having 
" gathered all his fame " ; — the bare hint will be 
sufficient to those that love " virtue and angling." * 

* Soon after the appearance of my first edition, I received the fol- 
lowing from Michael Bland, Esq., F. R. S. : — "The Walton and 
Cotton Club, to which I am the Secretary, adopting the idea suggested 
in your Introductory Essay, have resolved to institute an immediate in- 
quiry into the condition of the insufficient monument to the memory of 
Honest Izaak in Winchester Cathedral, with the view of taking some 
steps towards the erection of a memorial more worthy of the man, and 
more honorable to those who delight in that recreation which he has so 
beautifully portrayed." Whatever may have hitherto obstructed the 
above expressed intention, I still feel perfectly satisfied that it will be 
yet carried into effect. One gentleman, I was credibly informed, offered 
to put down two hundred guineas to commence the work. But let a one- 
guinea subscription be set on foot and the lovers of literature and an- 
gling will carry it in a summer's day ! The Dean of Winchester I 
understood to have expressed himself delighted that an honor so justly 
due should be paid to him as the "Historian of the Church." 



ow- 




INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 33 

In the foregoing will, as in everything which he 
wrote, will be found something characteristic of the 
man ; the subjoined genuine little scrap, exhibiting 
a fac-simile of his handwriting, will be new even to 
the Waltonian reader. 

pv^fcKvA'f »y Ley oJ> <mj~a*Y9' 

For Do r . C. Bewmount. 

pray S r , Accept this pore presant, by the as meane 
hand that brings it from 

Y r . affec. servant, 

Izaak Walton.* 

Were we required to give a designation to Wal- 
ton's style of writing, we should say that naiveti is 
his perpetual characteristic ; and that, whether he be 
humorous, instructive, or affecting, we have to ac- 
knowledge a degree of elegance which it were hope- 
less to attain and impossible not to admire. 

* Some little inscription similar to the foregoing generally accompa- 
nied those copies of his works which he gave to his friends ; when they 
have occurred at sales, they have produced several guineas above the 
value of the work itself. He also wrote his name in all his own reading 
books, and Sir H. Nicolas has enumerated about twenty thus enriched, 
now preserved in the Cathedral Library, Salisbury. 



34 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

The commendatory verses prefixed to the earlier 
editions of the Complete Angler, by eminent persons, 
friends of the author, were omitted for the first time 
by the Rev. M. Browne, as not even then (1759) 
agreeing with " the poetical taste of the times." The 
following lines, however, signed Rob. Floud, seem, 
equally for their brevity and terseness, to deserve 
their share of lasting popularity. 

" To my dear Brother, Mr. Izaak Walton, on his 
Complete Angler. 

"This book is so like you, and yon like it, 
For harmless mirth, expression, art, and wit, 
That 1 protest, ingenuously, 't is true, 
I love this mirth, art, wit, the book, and you. " 

Thus have we furnished a brief history of the ef- 
fects produced by this matchless work upon the in- 
telligent part of mankind, from its first appearance 
to the present time ; and when it is recollected that 
Walton himself was the first to set the example of 
graphic embellishment, boasting from the first of 
the " excellent picture of the Trout " ; also that 
'■'•Young Master Izaak" was so pleased with a cer- 
tain portion of "Peak Scenery" "as to draw it" (as 
Cotton tells us, Part II. Chap. VI.) "in landscape in 
black and white, in a blank book I have at home, 
as he has done several prospects of my house also, 
which I keep for a memorial of his favor, and will 
show you when we come up to dinner," thus early 
indicating the propriety of topographical illustration : 
recollecting all this, (and oh ! what would we not give 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 35 

even for a sight of " Young Master Izaak's " genuine 
"Sketch Book"?) surely no apology need be offered 
for attempting, (as expressed in our original pro- 
spectus,) " by the novelty and extent of the embellish- 
ments introduced in this edition, to heighten to the 
tttmost the pleasure of perusal ; to the Sportsman, the 
Naturalist, the lover of the Fine Arts, and the gen- 
eral Reader, to Artists and lovers of Art, Poets and 
lovers of Poetry? 

In conclusion, we are proud to acknowledge the 
assistance and approbation * received throughout the 
progress of the work from numerous persons of high 
taste, who "delight to honor" the memory of its ven- 
erable author by every demonstration of regard ; say- 
ing constantly, that "it is impossible to do too much 
for honest Izaak Walton." 

With honest exultation we refer to the List of Em- 
bellishments, which exhibits an extraordinary combi- 
nation of taste and talent : such patronage and such 
assistance we would fain hope may constitute at 
once a shelter and a boast. It would be unjust not 
to observe that the Printer, as well as every other 
party concerned, has executed his task perfectly con 
amore. 

The work is, in truth, indebted throughout equally 
to professional zeal and amateur co-operation ; and 

* Two remarkable instances of the latter from private letters, being 
very short, I indulge (with many apologies) in quoting. 

"Such publications are apples of gold in pictures of silver." — From 
Wm. Hamper, Esq. 

"I feel quite an interest in "whatever you are doing, you do everything 
so well." — From the Yen. Archdeacon Wrangham. 



3<5 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



it is the chief pride of my life to have pointed so 
successfully to that halo which must ever surround 
"meek Walton's heavenly memory."* 

May the ROD of the Critic be exchanged for that 
of the Fisher j and endless be the willing captives 
of Walton's imperishable Line ! 

JOHN MAJOR. 

Charterhouse, August xsi, 1844. 

* Wordsworth. 




TO 
THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL 

JOHN OFFLEY, ESQ. 

OF 

MADELY MANOR, IN THE COUNTY OF STAFFORD, 

My most Honored Friend. 

Sir,— 

I HAVE made so ill use of your former favors, 
as by them to be encouraged to intreat that 
they may be enlarged to the Patronage and Pro- 
tection of this Book : and I have put on a mod- 
est confidence, that I shall not be denied, because 
it is a Discourse of Fish and Fishing, which you 
know so well, and both love and practise so 
much. 

You are assured, though there be ignorant men 
of another belief, that Angling is an Art ; and 
you know that Art better than others : and that 
this truth is demonstrated by the fruits of that 
pleasant labor which you enjoy when you purpose 
to give rest to your mind, and divest yourself of 
your more serious business, and, which is often, 
dedicate a day or two to this recreation. 

At which time, if common Anglers should at- 
tend you, and be eyewitnesses of the success, 



38 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 

not of your fortune, but your skill, it would doubt- 
less beget in them an emulation to be like you, 
and that emulation might beget an industrious 
diligence to be so ; but I know it is not attain- 
able by common capacities. And there be now 
many men of great wisdom, learning, and expe- 
rience, which love and practise this Art, that 
know I speak the truth. 

Sir, — This pleasant curiosity of Fish and Fish- 
ing, of which you are so great a master, has been 
thought worthy the pens and practices of divers 
in other nations that have been reputed men of 
great learning and wisdom ■ and amongst those 
of this nation, I remember Sir Henry Wotton, a 
dear lover of this Art, has told me that his in- 
tentions were to write a Discourse of the Art, 
and in praise of Angling. And doubtless he 
had done so, if death had not prevented him ; 
the remembrance of which hath often made me 
sorry : for, if he had lived to do it, then the un- 
learned Angler had seen some better Treatise 
of this Art, . a Treatise that might have proved 
worthy his perusal ; which, though some have 
undertaken, I could never yet see in English. 

But mine may be thought as weak, and as un- 
worthy of common view : and I do here freely 
confess that I should rather excuse myself, than 
censure others, my own discourse being liable to 



THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 



39 



so many exceptions ; against which, you, Sir, 
might make this one, — that it can contribute 
nothing to your knowledge. And, lest a longer 
Epistle may diminish your pleasure, I shall make 
this no longer than to add this following truth, 
That I am really, Sir, 

Your affectionate Friend, 

And most humble Servant, 

Iz. Wa. 




41 



TO ALL 

READERS OF THIS DISCOURSE, 

BUT ESPECIALLY TO 

THE HONEST ANGLER. 

I THINK fit to tell thee these following truths, — that 
I did neither undertake, nor write, nor publish, and 
much less own, this Discourse to please myself: and hav- 
ing been too easily drawn to do all to please others, as I 
proposed not the gaining of credit by this undertaking, so 
I would not willingly lose any part of that to which I had 
a just title before I begun it ; and do therefore desire and 
hope, if I deserve not commendations, yet I may obtain 
pardon. 

And though this Discourse may be liable to some ex- 
ceptions, yet I cannot doubt but that most Readers may 
receive so much pleasure or profit by it, as may make it 
worthy the time of their perusal, if they be not too grave 
or too busy men. And this is all the confidence that I 
can put on, concerning the merit of what is here offered 
to their consideration and censure ; and if the last prove 
too severe, as I have a liberty, so I am resolved to use it 
and neglect all sour censures. 

And I wish the Reader also to take notice, that in writ- 
ing of it I have made myself a recreation of a recreation. 
And that it might prove so to him, and not read dull 
and tediously, I have in several places mixed, not any 
scurrility, but some innocent, harmless mirth : of which, 
if thou be a severe, sour-complexioned man, then I here 
disallow thee to be a competent judge ; for divines say, 
There are offences given, and offences not given but taken. 

And I am the willinger to justify the pleasant part of it, 
because, though it is known I can be serious at seasonable 



42 WALTON TO THE READER. 

times, yet the whole Discourse is, or rather was, a picture 
of my own disposition ; especially in such days and times 
as' I have laid aside business, and gone a-fishing with hon- 
est Nat. and R. Roe : but they are gone, and with them 
most of my pleasant hours, even as a shadow that passeth 
away and returns not. 

And next let me add this, that he that likes not the book 
should like the excellent picture of the Trout, and some 
of the other fish ; which I may take a liberty to commend, 
because they concern not myself. 

Next let me tell the Reader, that in that which is the 
more useful part of this Discourse,- that is to say, the ob- 
servations of the nature, and breeding, and seasons, and 
catching of fish, I am not so simple as not to know that 
a captious Reader may find exceptions against something 
said of some of these : and therefore I must entreat him to 
consider, that experience teaches us to know that several 
countries alter the time, and I think almost the manner, 
of fishes' breeding, but doubtless of their being in season : 
as may appear by three rivers in Monmouthshire, namely, 
Severn, Wye, and Usk ; where Camden [Brit., fol. 633) 
observes, that in the river Wye, Salmon are in season from 
September to April ; and we are certain that in Thames, 
and Trent, and in most other rivers, they be in season the 
six -hotter months. 

Now for the Art of Catching Fish, that is to say, how 
to make a man that was none to be an Angler by a book ; 
he that undertakes it shall undertake a harder task than 
Mr. Hales, a most valiant and excellent fencer, who in a 
printed book, called "A Private School of Defence," un- 
dertook to teach that art or .science, and was laughed at 
for his labor. Not but that many useful things might be 
learned by that book, but he was laughed at, because that 
art was not to be taught by words, but practice : and so 
must Angling. And note also, that in this Discourse I do 
not undertake to say all that is known, or may be said of 
it, but I undertake to acquaint the Reader with many 
things that are not usually known to every Angler ; and 



WALTON TO THE READER. 43 

I shall leave gleanings and observations enough to be made 
out of the experience of all that love and practise this 
recreation, to which I shall encourage them. For Angling 
may be said to be so like the Mathematics that it can never 
be fully learned ; at least not so fully but that there will 
still be more new experiments left for the trial of other 
men that succeed us. 

But I think all that love this game may here learn some- 
thing that may be worth their money, if they be not poor 
and needy men ; and in case they be, I then wish them to 
forbear to buy it : for I write not to get money, but for 
pleasure, and this Discourse boasts of no more ; for I hate 
to promise much and deceive the Reader. 

And however it proves to him, yet I am sure I have found 
a high content in the search and conference of what is here 
offered to the Reader's view and censure ; I wish him as 
much in the perusal of it. And so I might here take my 
leave ; but will stay a little and tell him, that whereas it 
is said by many, that, in fly-fishing for a Trout, the Angler 
must observe his twelve several flies for the twelve months 
of the year ; I say, he that follows that rule shall be as 
sure to catch fish, and be as wise, as he that makes hay 
by the fair days in an almanac, and no surer ; for those 
very flies that use to appear about and on the water in 
one month of the year, may the following year come al- 
most a month sooner or later, as the same year proves 
colder or hotter : and yet in the following Discourse I 
have set down the twelve flies that are in reputation with 
many Anglers, and they may serve to give him some ob- 
servations concerning them. And he may note, that there 
are in Wales and other countries peculiar flies proper to 
the particular place or country ; and doubtless, unless a 
man makes a fly to counterfeit that very fly in that place, 
he is like to lose his labor, or much of it : but for the 
generality, three or four flies neat and rightly made, and 
not too big, serve for a Trout in most rivers all the sum- 
mer. And for winter fly-fishing, it is as useful as an alma- 
nac out of date. And of these, because as no man is born 



44 



WALTON TO THE READER. 



an artist, so no man is born an Angler, I thought fit to 
give thee this notice. 

When I have told the Reader, that in this fifth impres- 
sion there are many enlargements, gathered both by my 
own observations and the communication with friends,- 1 shall 
stay him no longer than to wish him a rainy evening to 
read this following Discourse ; and that, if he be an hon- 
est Angler, the east wind may never blow when he goes 
a-fishing. 

I. W. 





/lie-' 



v_ 




THE FIRST DAY. 

Chap. I. — A Conference betwixt an Angler, a Hunter 
and a FALCONER, each commending his Recreation. 

PISCATOR, VENATOR, AUCEPS. 

PlSCATOR. 

OU are well overtaken, Gen- 
tlemen : a good morning to 
you both : I have stretched 
my legs up Tottenham Hill 
to overtake you, hoping your 
business may occasion you to- 
wards Ware, whither I am 
going this fine, fresh May 
morning. 
Venator. Sir, I, for my part, shall almost answer 
your hopes ; for my purpose is to drink my morning's 




46 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

draught at the Thatched House in Hoddesden; and 
I think not to rest till I come thither, where I have 
appointed a friend or two to meet me: but for this 
gentleman that you see with me, I know not how far 
he intends his journey ; he came so lately into my 
company, that I have scarce had time to ask him 
the question. 

Auceps. Sir, I shall, by your favor, bear you com- 
pany as far as Theobald's ; and there leave you, for 
then I turn up to a friend's house who mews a hawk 
for me, which I now long to see. 

Ven. Sir, we are all so happy as to have a fine, 
fresh, cool morning, and I hope we shall each be the 
happier in the others' company. And, Gentlemen, 
that I may not lose yours, I shall either abate or 
amend my pace to enjoy it ; knowing that, as the 
Italians say, " Good company in a journey makes the 
way to seem the shorter." 

Auc. It may do so, Sir, with the help of good dis- 
course, which, methinks, we may promise from you 
that both look and speak so cheerfully ; and, for my 
part, I promise you as an invitation to it, that I will 
be as free and open-hearted as discretion will allow 
me to be with strangers. 

Ven. And, Sir, I promise the like. 

Pise. I am right glad to hear your answers : and 
in confidence you speak the truth, I shall put on a 
boldness to ask you, Sir, whether business or pleasure 
caused you to be so early up, and walk so fast ; for 
this other gentleman hath declared he is going to 
see a hawk, that a friend mews for him. 



Chap. I.] THE COMPLETE. ANGLER. 47 

Ven. Sir, mine is a mixture of both, a little busi- 
ness and more pleasure : for I intend this day to do 
all my business, and then bestow another day or two 
in hunting the otter, which a friend, that I go to 
meet, tells me is much pleasanter than any other 
chase whatsoever ; howsoever, I mean to try it ; for 
to-morrow morning we shall meet a pack of otter- 
dogs of noble Mr. Sadler's, upon Amwell Hill, who 
will be there so early, that they intend to prevent the 
sun rising. 

PlSC. Sir, my fortune has answered my desires ; 
and my purpose is to bestow a day or two in help- 
ing to destroy some of those villanous vermin ; for 
I hate them perfectly, because they love fish so well, 
or rather, because they destroy so much ; indeed, so 
much, that, in my judgment, all men that keep otter- 
dogs ought to have pensions from the King to encour- 
age them to destroy the very breed of those base 
otters, they do so much mischief. 

Ven. But what say you to the foxes of the nation ? 
Would not you as willingly have them destroyed ? for 
doubtless they do as much mischief as otters do. 

PlSC. O Sir, if they do, it is not so much to me 
and my fraternity as those base vermin the otters do. 

Auc. Why, Sir, I pray, of what fraternity are you, 
that you are so angry with the poor otters ? 

PlSC. I am, Sir, a Brother of the Angle, and there- 
fore an enemy to the otter : for you are to note that 
we Anglers all love one another, and therefore do I 
hate the otter, both for my own and their sakes who 
are of my brotherhood. 



48 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

Ven. And I am a lover of hounds ; I have fol- 
lowed many a pack of dogs many a mile, and heard 
many merry huntsmen make sport and scoff at An- 
glers. 

Auc. And I profess myself a Falconer, and have 
heard many grave, serious men pity them, 't is such 
a heavy, contemptible, dull recreation. 

Pise. You know, Gentlemen, 't is an easy thing to 
scoff at any art or recreation : a little wit, mixed with 
ill-nature, confidence, and malice, will do it ; but 
though they often venture boldly, yet they are often 
caught, even in their own trap, according to that of 
Lucian, the father of the family of scoffers. 

" Lucian, well skilled in scoffing, this hath writ : 
Friend, that 's your folly which you think your wit : 
This you vent oft, void both of wit and fear, 
Meaning another, when yourself you jeer." 

If to this you add what Solomon says of scoffers, 
that " they are an abomination to mankind," (Prov. 
xxiv. 9,) let him that thinks fit scoff on, and be a 
scoffer still ; but I account them enemies to me, and 
to all that love virtue and Angling. 

And for you that have heard many grave, serious 
men pity Anglers, let me tell you, Sir, there be many 
men that are by others taken to be serious and grave 
men, which we contemn and pity. Men that are 
taken to be grave, because nature hath made them 
of a sour complexion, money-getting men, men that 
spend all their time, first in getting, and next in anx- 
ious care to keep it ; men that are condemned to 
be rich, and then always busy or discontented : for 



Chap. I.] 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



49 



these poor-rich-men, we Anglers pity them perfectly, 
and stand in no need to borrow their thoughts to 
think ourselves so happy. No, no, Sir, we enjoy a 
contentedness above the reach of such dispositions, 
and as the learned and ingenious Montaigne says like 
himself freely, "When my cat and I entertain each 




other with mutual apish tricks, as playing with a 
garter, who knows but that I make my cat more 
sport than she makes me ? Shall I conclude her to 
be simple, that has her time to begin or refuse to 
play as freely as I myself have ? Nay, who knows 
but that it is a defect of my not understanding her 
language (for doubtless cats talk and reason with 
one another) that we agree no better ? And who 
knows but that she pities me for being no wiser 
than to play with her, and laughs and censures my 
folly for making sport for her, when we two play to- 
gether ? " 

Thus freely speaks Montaigne concerning cats, and 



50 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

I hope I may take as great a liberty to blame any 
man, and laugh at him too, let him be never so grave, 
that hath not heard what Anglers can say in the jus- 
tification of their art and recreation ; which I may 
again tell you is so full of pleasure, that we need not 
borrow their thoughts to think ourselves happy. 

Ven. Sir, you have almost amazed me: for though 
I am no scoffer, yet I have, I pray let me speak it 
without offence, always looked upon Anglers as more 
patient and more simple men than I fear I shall find 
you to be. 

PlSC. Sir, I hope you will not judge my earnestness 
to be impatience: and for my simplicity, if by that 
you mean a harmlessness, or that simplicity which was 
usually found in the primitive Christians, who were, 
as most Anglers are, quiet men and followers of peace, 
- — men that were so simply-wise as not to sell their 
consciences to buy riches, and with them vexation and 
a fear to die ; if you mean such simple men as lived in 
those times when there were fewer lawyers, when men 
might have had a lordship safely conveyed to them 
in a piece of parchment no bigger than your hand, 
though several sheets will not do it safely in this wiser 
age, — I say, Sir, if you take us Anglers to be such 
simple men as I have spoken of, then myself and 
those of my profession will be glad to be so under- 
stood : but if by simplicity you meant to express a 
general defect in those that profess and practise the 
excellent art of Angling, I hope in time to disabuse 
you, and make the contrary appear so evidently, that, 
if you will but have patience to hear me, I shall re- 



Chap. I.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 5 1 

move all the anticipations that discourse, or time, or 
prejudice, have possessed you with against that laud- 
able and ancient' art ; for I know it is worthy the 
knowledge and practice of a wise man. 

But, Gentlemen, though I be able to do this, I am 
not so unmannerly as to engross all the discourse to 
myself: and, therefore, you two having declared your- 
selves, the one to be a lover of Hawks, the other of 
Hounds, I shall be most glad to hear what you can say 
in the commendation of that recreation which each of 
you love and practise ; and having heard what you 
can say, I shall be glad to exercise your attention with 
what I can say concerning my own recreation and 
art of Angling, and by this means we shall make the 
way to seem the shorter : and if you like my motion, 
I would have Mr. Falconer to begin. 

Auc Your motion is consented to with all my 
heart ; and, to testify it, I will begin as you have 
desired me. 

And first for the element that I use to trade in, 
which is the Air, an element of more worth than 
weight, an element that doubtless exceeds both the 
earth and water ; for though I sometimes deal in 
both, yet the air is most properly mine, — I and my 
Hawks use that most, and it yields us most recrea- 
tion. It stops not the high soaring of my noble, gen- 
erous Falcon : in it she ascends to such an height, as 
the dull eyes of beasts and fish are not able to reach 
to ; their bodies are too gross for such high eleva- 
tions : in the air my troops of Hawks soar up on 
high, and when they are lost in the sight of men, 



52 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

then they attend upon and converse with the Gods ; 
therefore I think my Eagle is so justly styled Jove's 
servant in ordinary : and that very Falcon, that I 
am now going to see, deserves no meaner a title, for 
she usually in her flight endangers herself, like the 
son of Daedalus, to have her wings scorched by the 
sun's heat, she flies so near it, but her mettle makes 
her careless of danger ; for she then heeds nothing, 
but makes her nimble pinions cut the fluid air, and 
so makes her high way over the steepest mountains 
and deepest rivers, and in her glorious career looks 
with contempt upon those high steeples and mag- 
nificent palaces which we adore and wonder at ; from 
which height I can make her to descend by a word 
from my mouth, which she both knows and obeys, 
to accept of meat from my hand, to own me for her 
master, to go home with me, and be willing the next 
day to afford me the like recreation. 

And more : this element of air which I profess to 
trade in, the worth of it is such, and it is of such 
necessity, that no creature whatsoever, not only those 
numerous creatures that feed on the face of the earth, 
but those various creatures that have their dwelling 
within the waters, every creature that hath life in its 
nostrils stands in need of my element. The waters 
cannot preserve the fish without air, witness the not 
breaking of ice in an extreme frost : the reason is, 
for that if the inspiring and expiring organ of any 
animal be stopped, it suddenly yields to nature, and 
dies. Thus necessary is air to the existence both 
offish and beasts, nay, even to man himself; that air, 



Chap. I.| THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 53 

or breath of life with which God at first inspired man- 
kind, Gen. ii. 7, he, if he wants it, dies presently, be- 
comes a sad object to all that loved and beheld him, 
and in an instant turns to putrefaction. 

Nay, more, the very birds of the air, those that 
be not Hawks, are both so many and so useful and 
pleasant to mankind, that I must not let them pass 
without some observations : they both feed and re- 
fresh him ; feed him with their choice bodies, and 
refresh him with their heavenly voices. I will not 
undertake to mention the several kinds of fowl by 
which this is done ; and his curious palate pleased 
by day, and which with their very excrements afford 
him a soft lodging at night. These I will pass by, 
but not those little nimble musicians of the air, that 
warble forth their curious ditties, with which Nature 
hath furnished them to the shame of Art. 

As first the Lark, when she means to rejoice, to 
cheer herself and those that hear her, she then quits 
the earth and sings as she ascends higher into the 
air ; and, having ended her heavenly employment, 
grows then mute and sad to think she must descend 
to the dull earth, which she would not touch but 
for necessity. 

How do the Blackbird and Thrassel with their me- 
lodious voices bid welcome to the cheerful spring, 
and in their fixed mouths waible forth such ditties as 
no art or instrument can reach to ! 

Nay, the smaller birds also do the like in their 
particular seasons, as namely the Laverock, the Tit- 
lark, the little Linnet, and the honest Robin, that, 
loves mankind both alive and dead. 



54 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

But the Nightingale, another of my airy creatures, 
breathes such sweet loud music out of her little in- 
strumental throat, that it might make mankind to 
think miracles are not ceased. He that at midnight, 
when the very laborer sleeps securely, should hear, as 
I have very often, the clear airs, the sweet descants, 
the natural rising and falling, the doubling and re- 
doubling of her voice, might well be lifted above 
earth, and say, " Lord, what music hast thou provided 
for the saints in heaven, when thou affordest bad y 
men such music on earth ! " 

And this makes me the less to wonder at the many 
aviaries in Italy, or at the great charge of Varro his 
aviary, the ruins of which are yet to be seen in Rome, 
and is still so famous there, that it is reckoned for one 
of those notables which men of foreign nations either 
record, or lay up in their memories when they return 
from travel. 

This for the birds of pleasure, of which very much 
more might be said. My next shall be of birds of 
political use ; I think 't is not to be doubted that 
Swallows have been taught to carry letters between 
two armies. But 't is certain that, when the Turks 
besieged Malta or Rhodes, I now remember not which 
't was, Pigeons are then related to carry and recarry 
letters. And Mr. G. Sandys, in his Travels, relates 
it to be done betwixt Aleppo and Babylon. But if 
that be disbelieved, 't is not to be doubted that the 
Dove was sent out of the ark by Noah, to give him 
notice of land, when to him all appeared to be sea ; 
and the Dove proved a faithful and comfortable mes- 



Chap. I.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 55 

senger. And for the sacrifices of the Law, a pair 
of Turtle-doves or young Pigeons were as well ac- 
cepted as costly bulls and rams. And when God 
would feed the Prophet Elijah, 1 Kings xvii. 4-6, 
after a kind of miraculous manner, he did it by Ra- 
vens, who brought him meat morning and evening. 
Lastly, the Holy Ghost, when he descended visibly 
upon our Saviour, did it by assuming the shape of 
a Dove. And, to conclude this part of my discourse, 
pray remember these wonders were done by birds of 
the air, the element in which they and I take so much 
pleasure. 

There is also a little contemptible winged creature, 
an inhabitant of my aerial element, namely the labori- 
ous Bee, of whose prudence, policy, and regular gov- 
ernment of their own commonwealth I might say 
much, as also of their several kinds, and how useful 
their honey and wax are both for meat and medicines 
to mankind ; but I will leave them to their sweet 
labor, without the least disturbance, believing them to 
be all very busy at this very time amongst the herbs 
and flowers that we see Nature puts forth this May 
morning. 

And now to return to my Hawks, from whom I 
have made too long a digression ; you are to note, 
that they are usually distinguished into two kinds ; 
namely, the Long-winged and the Short-winged 
Hawk ; of the first kind, there be chiefly in use 
amongst us in this nation, 

The Gerfalcon and Jerkin, 

The Falcon and Tassel-gentle, 



56 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

The Laner and Laneret, 
The Bockerel and Bockeret, 
The Saker and Sacaret, 
The Merlin and Jack Merlin, 
The Hobby and Jack ; 
There is the Stelletto of Spain, 
The Blood-red Rook from Turkey, - 
The Waskite from Virginia. 
And there is of Short-winged Hawks, 
The Eagle and Iron, 
The Goshawk and Tarcel, 
The Sparhawk and Musket, 
The French Pye'of two sorts. 

These are reckoned Hawks of note and worth, but 
we have also of an inferior rank, 

The Stanyel, the Ringtail, 

The Raven, the Buzzard, 

The Forked Kite, the Bald Buzzard, 

The Hen-driver, and others that I forbear to name. 

Gentlemen, if I should enlarge my discourse to the 
observation of the Eires, the Brancher, the Ramish 
Hawk, the Haggard, and the two sorts of Lentners, 
and then treat of their several ayries, their mewings, 
rare order of casting, and the renovation of their 
feathers ; their reclaiming, dieting, and then come to 
their rare stories of practice ; — I say, if I should 
enter into these, and many other observations that I 
could make, it would be much, very much pleasure to 
me : but lest I should break the rules of civility with 
you, by taking up more than the proportion of time 



Chap. I.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 57 

allotted to me, I will here break off, and entreat you, 
Mr. Venator, to say what you are able in the com- 
mendation of Hunting, to which you are so much af- 
fected ; and if time will serve, I will beg your favor for 
a further enlargement of some of those several heads 
of which I have spoken. But no more at present. 

Ven. Well, Sir, and I will now take my turn, and 
will first begin with a commendation of the Earth, 
as you have done most excellently of the Air ; the 
earth being that element upon which I drive my 
pleasant, wholesome, hungry trade. The earth is a 
solid, settled element ; an element most universally 
beneficial both to man and beast : to men who have 
their several recreations upon it, as horse-races, hunt- 
ing, sweet smells, pleasant walks : the earth feeds 
man, and all those several beasts that both feed him 
and afford him recreation. What pleasure doth man 
take in hunting the stately Stag, the generous Buck, 
the Wild-Boar, the cunning Otter, the crafty Fox, and 
the fearful Hare ! And if I may descend to a lower 
game, what pleasure is it sometimes with gins to betray 
the very vermin of the earth ! as namely, the Fitchet, 
the Fulimart, the Ferret, the Polecat, the Mouldwarp, 
and the like creatures that live upon the face and 
within the bowels of the earth ! How doth the earth 
bring forth herbs, flowers, and fruits, both for physic 
and the pleasure of mankind ! and above all, to me at 
least, the fruitful vine, of which when I drink moder- 
ately it clears my brain, cheers my heart, and sharp- 
ens my wit. How could Cleopatra have feasted Mark 
Antony with eight wild-boars roasted whole at one 
3* 



58 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

supper, and other meat suitable, if the earth had not 
been a bountiful mother ? But to pass by the mighty 
Elephant, which the earth breeds and nourisheth, and 
descend to the least of creatures, how doth the earth 
afford us a doctrinal example in the little Pismire, 
who in the summer provides and lays up her winter 
provision, and teaches man to do the like ! The earth 
feeds and carries those horses that carry us. If 1 
would be prodigal of my time and your patience, 
what might not I say in commendations of the earth ? 
that puts limits to the proud and raging sea, and by 
that means preserves both man and beast that it de- 
stroys them not, as we see it daily doth those that ven- 
ture upon the sea, and are there shipwrecked, drowned, 
and left to feed haddocks ; when we that are so wise 
as to keep ourselves on earth, walk, and talk, and live, 
and eat, and drink, and go a hunting : of which rec- 
reation I will say a little, and then leave Mr. Piscator 
to the commendation of Angling. 

Hunting is a game for Princes and noble persons ; 
it hath been highly prized in all ages ; it was one of 
the qualifications that Xenophon bestowed on his 
Cyrus, that he was a hunter of wild beasts. Hunt- 
ing trains up the younger nobility to the use of manly 
exercises in their riper age. What more manly exer- 
cise than hunting the Wild-Boar, the Stag, the Buck, 
the Fox, or the Hare ! How doth it preserve health, 
and increase strength and activity ! 

And for the dogs that we use, who can commend 
their excellency to that height which they deserve ? 
How perfect is the Hound at smelling, who never 



Chap. L] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 59 

leaves or forsakes his first scent, but follows it through 
so many changes and varieties of other scents, even 
over and in the water, and into the earth ! What 
music doth a pack of dogs then make to any man, 
whose heart and ears are so happy as to be set to 
the tune of such instruments ! How will a light 
Greyhound fix his eye on the best Buck in a herd, 
single him out, and follow him, and him only, through 
a whole herd of rascal game, and still know and then 
kill him ! For my Hounds, I know the language of 
them, and they know the language and meaning of 
one another, as perfectly as we know the voices of 
those with whom we discourse daily. 

I might enlarge myself in the commendation of 
Hunting, and of the noble Hound especially, as also 
of the docibleness of dogs in general ; and I might 
make many observations of land-creatures, that for 
composition, order, figure, and constitution approach 
nearest to the completeness and understanding of 
man ; especially of those creatures which Moses in 
the Law permitted to the Jews, Lev. ix. 2-8, which 
have cloven hoofs and chew the cud, which I shall 
forbear to name, because I will not be so uncivil to 
Mr. Piscator as not to allow him a time for the com- 
mendation of Angling, which he calls an Art ; but 
doubtless 't is an easy one : and, Mr. Auceps, I doubt 
we shall hear a watery discourse of it, but I hope 
't will not be a long one. 

Auc. And I hope so too, though I fear it will. 

PlSC. Gentlemen, let not prejudice prepossess you. 
I confess my discourse is like to prove suitable to 



60 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

my recreation, calm and quiet ; we seldom take the 
name of God into our mouths, but it is either to 
praise him or pray to him : if others use it vainly in 
the midst of their recreations, so vainly as if they 
meant to conjure, I must tell you it is neither our 
fault nor our custom ; we protest against it. But 
pray remember, I accuse nobody ; for as I would not 
make " a watery discourse," so I would not put too 
much vinegar into it ; nor would I raise the repu- 
tation of my own art by the diminution or ruin of 
another's. And so much for the prologue to what I 
mean to say. 

And now for the Water, the element that I trade 
in. The Water is the eldest daughter of the crea- 
tion, the element upon which the Spirit of God did 
first move, Gen. i. 2, the element which God com- 
manded to bring forth living creatures abundantly ; 
and without which, those that inhabit the land, even 
all creatures that have breath in their nostrils, must 
suddenly return to putrefaction. Moses, the great 
lawgiver and chief philosopher, skilled in all the 
learning of the Egyptians, who was called the friend 
of God, and knew the mind of the Almighty, names 
this element the first in the creation ; this is the ele- 
ment upon which the Spirit of God did first move,, 
and is the chief ingredient in the creation : many 
philosophers have made it to comprehend all the 
other elements, and most allow it the chiefest in the 
mixtion of all living creatures. 

There be that profess to believe that all bodies 
are made of water, and may be reduced back again 



Chap. I.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 6 1 

to water only ; they endeavor to demonstrate it 
thus : — 

Take a willow, or any like speedy-growing plant, 
newly rooted in a box or barrel full of earth, weigh 
them all together exactly when the trees begin to 
grow, and then weigh all together after the tree is 
increased from its first rooting to weigh an hundred 
pound weight more than when it was first rooted and 
weighed ; and you shall find this augment of the tree 
to be without the diminution of one drachm weight 
of the earth. Hence they infer this increase of wood 
to be from water of rain, or from dew, and not to be 
from any other element. And they affirm, they can 
reduce this wood back again to water ; and they af- 
firm, also, the same may be done in any animal or 
vegetable. And this I take to be a fair testimony 
of the excellency of my element of Water. 

The Water is more productive than the earth. Nay, 
the earth hath no fruitfulness without showers or 
dews ; for all the herbs and flowers and fruits are 
produced and thrive by the water ; and the very min- 
erals are fed by streams that run underground, whose 
natural course carries them to the tops of many high 
mountains, as we see by several springs breaking 
forth on the tops of the highest hills ; and this is 
also witnessed by the daily trial and testimony of 
several miners. 

Nay, the increase of those creatures that are bred 
and fed in the water are not only more and more 
miraculous, but more advantageous to man, not only 
for the lengthening of his life, but for the prevent- 



62 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

ing of sickness ; for 't is observed by the most learned 
physicians, that the casting off of Lent and other fish 
days, — which hath not only given the lie to so many 
learned, pious, wise founders of colleges, for which 
we should be ashamed, — hath doubtless been the 
chief cause of those many putrid, shaking, intermit- 
ting agues, unto which this nation of ours is now 
more subject than those wiser countries that feed 
on herbs, salads, and plenty of fish ; of which it is 
observed in story, that the greatest part of the world 
now do. And it may be fit to remember that Moses, 
Lev. xi. 9, Deut. xiv. 9, appointed fish to be the chief 
diet for the best commonwealth that ever yet was. 

And it is observable, not only that there are fish, 
■ — as namely, the Whale, three times as big as the 
mighty Elephant, that is so fierce in battle, — but 
that the mightiest feasts have been of fish. The 
Romans in the height of their glory have made fish 
the mistress of all their entertainments ; they have 
had music to usher in their Sturgeons, Lampreys, and 
Mullets, which they would purchase at rates rather 
to be wondered at than believed. He that shall view 
the writings of Macrobius, or Varro, may be con- 
firmed and informed of this, and of the incredible 
value of their fish and fish-ponds. 

But, Gentlemen, I have almost lost myself, which 
I confess I may easily do in this philosophical dis- 
course ; I met with most of it very lately, and, I 
hope, happily, in a conference with a most learned 
physician, Dr. Wharton, a dear friend, that loves 
both me and my art of Angling. But however, I 



/ 



Chap. I.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 63 

will wade no deeper in these mysterious arguments, 
but pass to such observations as I can manage with 
more pleasure, and less fear of running into error. 
But I must not yet forsake the waters, by whose 
help we have so many known advantages. 

And first, to pass by the miraculous cures of our 
known baths, how advantageous is the sea for out- 
daily traffic, without which we could not now sub- 
sist ? How does it not only furnish us with food and 
physic for the bodies, but with such observations for 
the mind as ingenious persons would not want ! 

How ignorant had we been of the beauty of Flo- 
rence, of the monuments, urns, and rarities that yet 
remain in and near unto old and new Rome, so 
many as it is said will take up a year's time to view, 
and afford to each of them but a convenient con- 
sideration ; and therefore it is not to be wondered 
at, that so learned and devout a father as St. Jerome, 
after his wish to have seen Christ in the flesh, and 
to have heard St. Paul preach, makes his third wish 
to have seen Rome in her glory ; and that glory is 
not yet all lost, for what pleasure is it to see the 
monuments of Livy, the choicest of the historians ; 
of Tully, the best of orators ; and to see the bay- 
trees that now grow out of the very tomb of Virgil ! 
These, to any that love learning, must be pleasing. 
But what pleasure is it to a devout Christian to see 
there the humble house in which St. Paul was con- 
tent to dwell, and to view the many rich statues 
that are there made" in honor of his memory ! Nay, 
to see the very place in which St. Peter and he he 



64 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

buried together ! These are in and near to Rome. 
And how much more doth it please the pious curi- 
osity of a Christian, to see that place on which the 
blessed Saviour of the world was pleased to humble 
himself, and to take our nature upon him, and to 
converse with men, — to see Mount Sion, Jerusalem, 
and the very Sepulchre of our Lord Jesus ! How 
may it beget and heighten the zeal of a Christian, 
to see the devotions that are daily paid to him at 
that place ! Gentlemen, lest I forget myself I will 
stop here, and remember you, that, but for my ele- 
ment of Water, the inhabitants of this po.or island 
must remain ignorant that such things ever were, or 
that any of them have yet a being. 

Gentlemen, I might both enlarge and lose myself 
in such like arguments ; I might tell you that Al- 
mighty God is said to have spoken to a fish, but 
never to a beast; that he hath made a Whale a 
ship to carry and set his prophet Jonah safe on the 
appointed shore. Of these I might speak, but I must 
in manners break off, for I see Theobald's house. I 
cry you mercy for being so long, and thank you for 
your patience. 

Auc. Sir, my pardon is easily granted you ; I ex- 
cept against nothing that you have said ; neverthe- 
less, I must part with you at this park-wall, for which 
I am very sorry ; but I assure you, Mr. Piscator, I 
now part with you full of good thoughts, not only 
of yourself, but your recreation. And so, Gentlemen, 
God keep you both ! 

PlSC. Well, now, Mr. Venator, you shall neither 



Chap. I.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 65 

want time nor my attention to hear you enlarge your 
discourse concerning Hunting. 

VEN. Not I, Sir ; I remember you said that An- 
gling itself was of great antiquity, and a perfect art, 
and an art not easily attained to ; and you have so 
won upon me in your former discourse, that I am 
very desirous to hear what you can say further con- 
cerning those particulars. 

PlSC. Sir, I did say so, and I doubt not but if you 
and I did converse together but a few hours, to leave 
you possessed with the same high and happy thoughts 
that now possess me of it ; not only of the antiquity 
of Angling, but that it deserves commendations, and 
that it is an art, and an art worthy the knowledge and 
practice of a wise man. 

Ven. Pray, Sir, speak of them what you think fit, 
for we have yet five miles to the Thatched House, 
during which walk I dare promise you my patience 
and diligent attention shall not be wanting. And if 
you shall make that to appear which you have un- 
dertaken ; first, that it is an art, and an art worth 
the learning, I shall beg that I may attend you a day 
or two a-fishing, and that I may become your scholar, 
and be instructed in the art itself which you so much 
magnify. 

PlSC. O Sir, doubt not but that Angling is an art; 
is it not an art to deceive a Trout with an artificial 
fly? — a Trout ! that is more sharp-sighted than any r 
Hawk you have named, and more watchful and tim- 
orous than your high-mettled Merlin is bold ? and 
yet I doubt not to catch a brace or two to-morrow, 



66 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

for a friend's breakfast : doubt not therefore, Sir, 
but that Angling is an art, and an art worth your 
learning : the question is rather, whether you be ca- 
pable of learning it ? for Angling is somewhat like 
Poetry, men are to be born so : I mean with incli- 
nations to it, though both may be heightened by 
discourse and practice ; but he that hopes to be a 
good Angler must not only bring an inquiring, search- 
ing, observing wit, but he must bring a large measure 
of hope and patience, and a love and propensity to the 
art itself; but having once got and practised it, then 
doubt not but Angling will prove to be so pleasant, 
that it will prove to be like virtue, a reward to itself. 

Ven. Sir, I am now become so full of expectation, 
that I long much to have you proceed ; and in the 
order that you propose. 

PlSC. Then first, for the antiquity of Angling, of 
which I shall not say much, but only this : some 
say it is as ancient as Deucalion's flood ; others, that 
Belus, who was the first inventor of godly and vir- 
tuous recreations, was the first inventor of Angling ; 
and some others say, for former times have had their 
disquisitions about the antiquity of it, that Seth, one 
of the sons of Adam, taught it to his sons, and 
that by them it was derived to posterity ; others say, 
that he left it engraven on those pillars which he 
erected, and trusted to preserve the knowledge of 
the mathematics, music, and the rest of that pre- 
cious knowledge, and those useful arts which by 
God's appointment or allowance and his noble in- 
dustry were thereby preserved from perishing in 
Noah's flood. 



Chap. I.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 6j 

These, Sir, have been the opinions of several men, 
that have possibly endeavored to make Angling more 
ancient than is needful, or may well be warranted ; 
but for my part, I shall content myself in telling 
you, that Angling is much more ancient than the 
incarnation of our Saviour ; for in the Prophet Amos 
mention is made of fish-hooks ; and in the Book of 
Job, which was long before the days of Amos, for 
that book is said to be writ by Moses, mention is 
made also of fish-hooks, which must imply Anglers 
in those times. 

But, my worthy friend, as I would rather prove 
myself a gentleman by being learned and humble, 
valiant and inoffensive, virtuous and communicable, 
than by any fond ostentation of riches, or, wanting 
those virtues myself, boast that these were in my 
ancestors, — and yet 1 grant that where a noble and 
ancient descent and such merits meet in any man, 
it is a double dignification of that person : — so if 
this antiquity of Angling, which for my part I have 
not forced, shall, like an ancient family, be either an 
honor or an ornament to this virtuous art which I 
profess to love and practise, I shall be the gladder 
that 1 made an accidental mention of the antiquity 
of it ; of which I shall say no more, but proceed to 
that just commendation which I think it deserves. 

And for that I shall tell you, that in ancient times 

a debate hath risen, and it remains yet unresolved, 

whether the happiness of man in this world doth 

V consist more in contemplation or action. s 

Concerning which, some have endeavored to main- 



68 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

tain their opinion of the first, by saying, that the 
nearer we mortals come to God by way of imitation, 
the more happy we are. And they say, that God 
enjoys himself only by a contemplation of his own 
Infiniteness, Eternity, Power, and Goodness, and the 
like. And upon this ground, many cloisteral men 
of great learning and devotion prefer contemplation 
before action. And many of the fathers seem to 
approve this opinion, as may appear in their com- 
mentaries upon the words of our Saviour to Martha, 
Luke x. 41, 42. 

And, on the contrary, there want not men of equal 
authority and credit, that prefer action to be the 
more excellent : as namely, experiments in physic, 
and the application of it, both for the ease and pro- 
longation of man's life ; by which each man is ena- 
bled to act and do good to others, either to serve 
his country, or do good to particular persons : and 
they say also, that action is doctrinal, and teaches 
both art and virtue, and is a maintainer of humane 
society ; and for these, and other like reasons, to be 
preferred before contemplation. 

Concerning which two opinions I shall forbear to 
add a third by declaring my own, and rest myself 
contented in telling you, my very worthy friend, that y 
both these meet together, and do most properly be- 
long to the most honest, ingenuous, quiet, and harm- 
less art of Angling. 

And first, I shall tell you what some have observed, 
and I have found it to be a real truth, that the very 
sitting by the river's side is not only the quietest 



Chap. I.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 69 

and fittest place for contemplation, but will invite 
an Angler to it; and this seems to be maintained 
by the learned Peter Du Moulin, who, in his dis- 
course of the Fulfilling of Prophecies, observes, that 
when God intended to reveal any future events or 
high notions to his prophets, he then carried them 
/-'"" either to the deserts or the sea-shore, that having 
so separated them from amidst the press of people 
and business, and the cares of the world, he might 
settle their mind in a quiet repose, and there make 
them fit for revelation. 

And this seems also to be intimated by the chil- 
dren of Israel, Psal. 137, who, having in a sad condi- 
tion banished all mirth and music from their pensive 
hearts, and having hung up their then mute harps 
upon the willow-trees growing by the rivers of Baby- 
lon, sat down upon those banks bemoaning the ruins 
of Sion, and contemplating their own sad condition. 

And an ingenious Spaniard says, that "rivers and 
the inhabitants of the watery element were made for 
wise men to contemplate, and fools to pass by with- 
out consideration." And though I will not rank my- 
self in the number of the first, yet give me leave 
to free myself from the last, by offering to you a 
short contemplation, first of rivers and then of fish ; 
concerning which I doubt not but to give you many 
observations that will appear very considerable : I 
am sure they have appeared so to me, and made 
many an hour pass away more pleasantly, as I have 
sat quietly on a flowery bank by a calm river, and 
contemplated what I shall now relate to you. 



70 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

And first concerning Rivers ; there be so many 
wonders reported and written of them, and of the 
several creatures that be bred and live in them, and 
those by authors of so good credit, that we need 
not to deny them an historical faith. 

As namely of a river in Epirus, that puts out any 
lighted torch, and kindles any torch that was not 
lighted. Some waters being drank .cause madness, 
some drunkenness, and some laughter to death. The 
river Selarus in a few hours turns a rod or wand to 
stone ; and our Camden mentions the like in Eng- 
land, and the like in Lochmere in Ireland. There 
is also a river in Arabia, of which all the sheep that 
drink thereof have their wool turned into a vermil- 
ion color. And one of no less credit than Aristotle 
tells us of a merry river, the river Elusina, that dances 
at the noise of music, for with music it bubbles, dances, 
and grows sandy, and so continues till the music 
ceases, but then it presently returns to its wonted 
calmness and clearness. And Camden tells us of a 
well near to Kirby in Westmoreland, that ebbs and 
flows several times every day ; and he tells us of a 
river in Surrey, it is called Mole, that after it has 
run several miles, being opposed by hills, finds or 
makes itself a way under ground, and breaks out 
again so far off, that the inhabitants thereabouts boast, 
as the Spaniards do of their river Anus, that they feed 
divers flocks of sheep upon a bridge. And lastly, for 
I would not tire your patience, one of no less authority 
than Josephus, that learned Jew, tells us of a river in 
Judaea that runs swiftly all the six days of the week, 
and stands still and rests all their Sabbath. 



Chap. I.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 7 1 

But I will lay aside my discourse of rivers, and tell 
you some things of the monsters, or fish, call them 
what you will, that they breed and feed in them. 
Pliny the philosopher says, in the third chapter of his 
ninth book, that in the Indian Sea the fish called the 
Balasna, or Whirlpool, is so long and broad as to 
take up more in length and breadth than two acres 
of ground, and of other fish of two hundred cubits 
long ; and that in the river Ganges, there be Eels 
of thirty foot long. He says there, that these mon- 
sters appear in that sea only when the tempestuous 
winds oppose the torrents of waters falling from the 
rocks into it, and so turning what lay at the bottom to 
be seen on the water's top. And he says, that the 
people of Cadara, an island near this place, make the 
timber for their houses of those fish-bones. He there 
tells us, that there are sometimes a thousand of these 
great Eels found wrapped or interwoven together. 
He tells us there, that it appears that Dolphins love 
music, and will come, when called for, by some men 
or boys, that know and use to feed them, and that 
they can swim as swift as an arrow can be shot out 
of a bow ; and much of this is spoken concerning 
the Dolphin, and other fish, as may be found also 
in learned Dr. Casaubon's discourse "Of Credulity 
and Incredulity," printed by him about the year 
1670. // 

I know we islanders are averse to the belief of 
these wonders ; but there be so many strange crea- 
tures to be now seen, many collected by John Tra- 
descant, and others added by my friend Elias Ash- 



72 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part 1. 




mole, Esq., who now keeps them carefully and me- 
thodically at his house near to Lambeth near London, 
as may get some belief of some of the other wonders 
I mentioned. I will tell you some of the wonders 
that you may now see, and not till then believe, 
unless you think fit. 

You may there see the Hog-fish, the Dog-fish, the 
Dolphin, the Coney-fish, the Parrot-fish, the Shark, 
the Poison-fish, Sword-fish, and not only other in- 
credible fish, but you may there see the Salamander, 
several sorts of Barnacles, of Solan geese, the Bird 
of Paradise, such sorts of Snakes, and such bird's- 
nests, and of so various forms, and so wonderfully 
made, as may beget wonder and amusement in any 
beholder : and so many hundred of other rarities in 
that collection, as will make the other wonders I 
spake of the less incredible ; for you may note, that 
the waters are Nature's storehouse, in which she 
locks up her wonders. 

But, Sir, lest this discourse may seem tedious, I 
shall give it a sweet conclusion out of that holy poet, 



Chap. I.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 73 

Mr. George Herbert, his divine " Contemplation on 
God's Providence." 

' ' Lord ! who hath praise enough ? Nay, who hath any ? 
None can express thy works but he that knows them ; 
And none can know thy works they are so many 
And so complete, but only he that owes them ! 

" We all acknowledge both thy power and love 
To be exact, transcendent, and divine ; 
Who dost so strongly and so sweetly move, 
Whilst all things have their end, yet none but thine. 

"Wherefore, most sacred Spirit, I here present 
For me, and all my fellows, praise to thee ; 
And just it is that I should pay the rent, 
Because the benefit accrues to me." 

And as concerning fish in that Psalm, Psal. 104, 
wherein for height of poetry and wonders the proph- 
et David seems even to exceed himself, how doth 
he there express himself in choice metaphors, even 
to the amazement of a contemplative reader, concern- 
ing the sea, the rivers, and the fish therein contained ! 
And the great naturalist, Pliny, says, " That Nature's 
great and wonderful power is more demonstrated in 
the sea than on the land." And this may appear by 
the numerous and various creatures inhabiting both in 
and about that element ; as to the readers of Gesner, 
Rondeletius, Pliny, Ausonius, Aristotle, and others, 
may be demonstrated. But I will sweeten 

.... r . D" Bartas, 

this discourse also out of a contemplation in the Fifth 
in divine Du Bartas, who says : — 



I 



74 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

' ' God quickened in the sea and in the rivers 
So many fishes of so many features, 
That in the waters we may see all creatures, 
Ev'n all that on the earth are to be found, 
As if the world were in deep waters drowned. 
For Seas, as well as Skies, have Sun, Moon, Stars ; 
As well as Air — Swallows, Rooks, and Stares; 
As well as Earth — Vines, Roses, Nettles, Melons, 
Mushrooms, Pinks, Gilliflowers, and many millions 
Of other plants, more rare, more strange than these, 
As very fishes living in the seas : 
As also Rams, Calves, Horses, Hares, and Hogs, 
Wolves, Urchins, Lions, Elephants, and Dogs ; 
Yea, Men and Maids, and, which I most admire, 
The mitred Bishop, and the cowled Friar : 
Of which examples but a few years since 
Were shown the Norway and Polonian Prince." 

These seem to be wonders, but have had so many 
confirmations from men of learning and credit, that 
you need not doubt them : nor are the number nor 
the various shapes of fishes more strange or more 
fit for contemplation, than their different natures, in- 
clinations, and actions ; concerning which I shall beg 
your patient ear a little longer. 

The Cuttle-fish will cast a long gut out of her 

throat, which, like as an Angler doth his line, she 

sendeth forth and pulleth in again at her pleasure, 

according as she sees some little fish come 

Essayed near to her; and the Cuttle-fish, being 

tWs" affirm tnen nid in tne S ravel > lets tne smaller 

fish nibble and bite the end of it, at which 

time she by little and little draws the smaller fish so 

near to her, that she may leap upon her, and then 



Chap I.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. *] $ 

catches and devours her : and for this reason some 
have called this fish the Sea-Angler. 

And there is a fish called a Hermit, that at a certain 
age gets into a dead fish's shell, and like a hermit 
dwells there alone, studying the wind and weather, 
and so turns her shell that she makes it defend 
her from the injuries that they would bring upon 
her. 

There is also a fish called, by ^Elian, in his ninth 
Book of Living Creatures, Ch. 16, the Adonis, or 
Darling of the Sea ; so called because it is a loving 
and innocent fish, a fish that hurts nothing that hath 
life, and is at peace with all the numerous inhabitants 
of that vast watery element : and truly I think most 
Anglers are so disposed to most of mankind. 

And there are also lustful and chaste fishes, of 
which I shall give you examples. 

And first, what Du Bartas says of a fish called the 
Sargus : which because none can express it better 
than he does, I shall give you in his own words ; sup- 
posing it shall not have the less credit for being verse, 
for he hath gathered this and other observations out 
of authors that have been great and industrious 
searchers into the secrets of Nature. 

"The adult' rous Sargus doth not only change 
Wives every day in the deep streams, but, strange ! 
As if the honey of sea-love delight 
Could not suffice his raging appetite, 
Goes courting she-goats on the grassy shore, 
Horning their husbands that had horns before." 

And the same author writes concerning the Can- 



•J 6 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

tharus, that which you shall also hear in his own 
words : — 

" But contrary, the constant Cantharus 
Is ever constant to his faithful spouse ; 
In nuptial duties spending his chaste life, 
Never loves any but his own dear wife." 

Sir, but a little longer, arid I have done. 

Ven. Sir, take what liberty you think fit, for your 
discourse seems to be music, and charms me to an 
attention. 

PlSC. Why then, Sir, I will take a little liberty to 
tell, or rather to remember you, what is said of Tur- 
tle-Doves ; first, that they silently plight their troth 
and marry ; and that then the survivor scorns, as the 
Thracian women are said to do, to outlive his or her 
mate, and this is taken for a truth, and if the survivor 
shall ever couple with another, then not only the living 
but the dead, be it either the he or the she, is denied 
the name and honor of a true Turtle-Dove. 

And to parallel this land-rarity, and teach man- 
kind moral faithfulness, and to condemn those that 
talk of religion, and yet come short of the moral 
faith of fish and fowl ; men that violate the law af- 
firmed by St. Paul, Rom. ii. 14, 15, 16, to be writ 
in their hearts, and which, he says, shall at the last 
day condemn and leave them without excuse ; — I pray 
hearken to what Du Bartas sings, for the 
Fiftl?Da aS ' hearing of such conjugal faithfulness will 
be music to all chaste ears, and there- 
fore I pray hearken to what Du Bartas sings of the 
Mullet. 



Chap. I.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 77 

' ' But for chaste love the Mullet hath no peer ; 
For, if the fisher hath surprised her pheer, 
As mad with woe, to shore she followeth, 
Prest to consort him both in life and death." 

On the contrary, what shall I say of the House- 
Cock, which treads any hen ; and then, contrary to 
the Swan, the Partridge, and Pigeon, takes no care 
to hatch, to feed, or to cherish his own brood, but 
is senseless, though they perish. 

And 'tis considerable, that the Hen, which, because 
she also takes any Cock, expects it not, who is sure 
the chickens be her own, hath by a moral impres- y 
sion her care and affection to her own brood more 
than doubled, even to such a height, that our Saviour, 
in expressing his love to Jerusalem, Matt, xxiii. 37, 
quotes her for an example of tender affection ; as his 
father had done Job for a pattern of patience. 

And to parallel this Cock, there be divers fishes that 
cast their spawn on flags or stones, and then leave it 
uncovered, and exposed to become a prey, and be 
devoured by vermin, or other fishes ; but other fishes, 
as namely the Barbel, take such care for the preser- 
vation of their seed, that, unlike to the Cock or the 
Cuckoo, they mutually labor, both the spawner and 
the melter, to cover their spawn with sand, or watch 
it, or hide it in some secret place, unfrequented by 
vermin or by any fish but themselves. 

Sir, these examples may, to you and others, seem 
strange ; but they are testified, some by Aristotle, 
some by Pliny, some by Gesner, and by many others 
of credit, and are believed and known by divers, both 



78 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

of wisdom and experience, to be a truth ; and indeed 
are, as I said at the beginning, fit for the contempla- 
tion of a most serious and a most pious man. And, 
doubtless, this made the Prophet David say, Psal. 
cvii. 23, 24, "They that occupy themselves in deep 
waters see the wonderful works of God " : indeed, 
such wonders and pleasures too as the land affords 
not. 

And that they be fit for the contemplation of the 
most prudent, and pious, and peaceable men, seems 
to be testified by the practice of so many devout and 
contemplative men, as the Patriarchs and Prophets 
of old, and of the Apostles of our Saviour in our 
latter times ; of which twelve, we are sure he chose 
V four that were simple Fishermen, whom he inspired 
and sent to publish his blessed will to the Gentiles, 
and inspired them also with a power to speak all 
languages, and by their powerful eloquence to beget 
faith in the unbelieving Jews, and themselves to suffer 
for that Saviour whom their forefathers and they had 
crucified ; and, in their sufferings, to preach freedom 
from the incumbrances of the law, and a new way to 
everlasting life. This was the employment of these 
happy Fishermen, concerning which choice some 
have made these observations. 

First, that he never reproved these for their em- 
ployment or calling, as he did scribes and the money- 
changers. And secondly, he found that the hearts of 
such men by nature were fitted for contemplation and 
quietness ; men of mild, and sweet, and peaceable 
spirits, as indeed most Anglers are : these men, our 



Chap. I.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 79 

blessed Saviour, who is observed to love to plant 
grace in good natures, though indeed nothing be too 
hard for him, yet these men he chose to call from 
their irreprovable employment of fishing, and gave 
them grace to be his disciples, and to follow him and 
do wonders ; I say four of twelve. 

And it is observable, that it was our Saviour's will, 
that these our four Fishermen should have a priority 
of nomination in the catalogue of his Twelve Apos- 
tles, Matt. x. 2-4, Acts i. 13, as namely, first St. Pe- 
ter, St. Andrew, St. James, and St. John, and then the 
rest in their order. 

And it is yet more observable, that when our blessed 
Saviour went up into the mount, when he left the rest 
of his disciples and chose only three to bear him com- 
pany at his Transfiguration, that those three were all 
Fishermen. And it is to be believed, that all the other 
Apostles, after they betook themselves to follow Christ, 
betook themselves to be Fishermen too ; for it is cer- 
tain that the greater number of them were found 
together fishing by Jesus after his Resurrection, as it 
is recorded in the twenty-first chapter of St. John's 
Gospel, v. 3, 4. 

And since I have your promise to hear me with 
patience, I will take a liberty to look back upon 
an observation that hath been made by an ingenious 
and learned man ; who observes, that God hath been 
pleased to allow those whom he himself hath ap- 
pointed to write his holy will in Holy Writ, yet, to 
express his will in such metaphors as their former 
affections or practice had inclined them to : and he 



80 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

brings Solomon for an example, who before his con- 
version was remarkably carnally amorous ; and after 
by God's appointment wrote that spiritual dialogue 
or holy amorous love-song, the Canticles, betwixt God 
and his Church ; in which he says his beloved had 
eyes like the fish-pools of Heshbon. 

And if this hold in reason, as I see none to the 
contrary, then it may be probably concluded, that 
Moses, who, I told you before, writ the Book of Job, 
and the Prophet Amos, who was a shepherd, were 
both Anglers ; for you shall in all the Old Testament 
find fish-hooks, I think, but twice mentioned ; namely, 
by meek Moses, the friend of God, and by the humble V 
Prophet Amos. 

Concerning which last, namely, the Prophet Amos, 
I shall make but this observation, — that he that shall 
read the humble, lowly, plain style of that prophet, 
and compare it with the high, glorious, eloquent style 
of the Prophet Isaiah, though they be both equally 
true, may easily believe Amos to be, not only a shep- 
herd, but a good-natured, plain fisherman. Which 
I do the rather believe by comparing the affectionate, 
loving, lowly, humble Epistles of St. Peter, St. James, 
and St. John, whom we know were all Fishers, with V 
the glorious language and high metaphors of St. Paul, 
who we may believe was not. 

And for the lawfulness of fishing, it may very well 
be maintained by our Saviour's bidding St. Peter cast 
his hook into the water and catch a fish, for money to 
pay tribute to Caesar. And let me tell you, that An- 
gling is of high esteem, and of much use in other 



Chap. I.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 8 1 

nations. He that reads the Voyages of Ferdinand 
Mendez Pinto shall find that there he declares to 
have found a king and several priests a-fishing. 

And he that reads Plutarch shall find that Angling 
was not contemptible in the days of Mark Antony 
and Cleopatra, and that they in the midst of their 
wonderful glory used Angling as a principal recrea- 
tion. And let me tell you, that in the Scripture An- 
gling is always taken in the best sense ; and that, 
though Hunting may be sometimes so taken, yet it 
is but seldom to be so understood. And let me add 
this more, — he that views the ancient Ecclesiastical 
Canons shall find Hunting to be forbidden to church- 
men, as being a turbulent, toilsome, perplexing recrea- 
tion ; and shall find Angling allowed to clergymen, as 
being a harmless recreation, a recreation that invites 
them to contemplation and quietness. 

I might here enlarge myself by telling you what 
commendations our learned Perkins bestows on An- 
gling ; and how dear a lover and great a practiser of 
it our learned Doctor Whitaker was, as indeed many 
others of great learning have been. But I will con- 
tent myself with two memorable men, that lived near 
to our own time, whom I also take to have been orna- 
ments to the art of Angling. 

The first is Doctor Nowel, sometime Dean 

1550. 
of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Lon- 
don, where his monument stands yet undefaced : a 
man that in the Reformation of Queen Elizabeth, not 
that of Henry VIII., was so noted for his meek spirit, 
deep learning, prudence, and piety, that the then Par- 



82 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

liament and Convocation both chose, enjoined, and 
trusted him to be the man to make a Catechism for 
public use, such a one as should stand as a rule for 
faith and manners to their posterity. And the good 
old man, though he was very learned, yet knowing 
that God leads us not to heaven by many nor by hard 
questions, like an honest Angler, made that good, 
plain, unperplexed Catechism which is- printed with 
our good old Service-Book. I say, this good man was 



a dear lover and constant practiser of Angling as any 
age can produce ; and his custom was to spend, be- 
sides his fixed hours of prayer, those hours which by 
command of the Church were enjoined the clergy, and 
voluntarily dedicated to devotion by many primitive 
Christians, — I say, beside those hours, this good man 
was observed to spend a tenth part of his time in An- 
gling ; and also, for I have conversed with those which 
have conversed with him, to bestow a tenth part of his 
revenue, and usually all his fish, amongst the poor 
that inhabited near to those rivers in which it was 
caught ; saying often, " that Charity gave life to Re- ^ 



Chap. L] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 83 

ligion " : and at his return to his house would praise 
God he had spent that day free from worldly trouble ; 
both harmlessly, and in a recreation that became a 
churchman. And this good man was well content, if 
not desirous, that posterity should know he was an 
Angler, as may appear by his picture now to be seen, 
and carefully kept in Brazen-nose College, to which he 
was a liberal benefactor ; in which picture he is drawn 
leaning on a desk with his Bible before him, and on 
one hand of him his lines, hooks, and other tackling, 
lying in a round ; and on his other hand are his An- 
gle-rods of several sorts : and by them this is written, 
"that he died 13 Feb. 1601, being aged ninety-five 
years, forty-four of which he had been Dean of St. 
Paul's Church ; and that his age had neither impaired 
his hearing, nor dimmed his eyes, nor weakened his 
memory, nor made any of the faculties of his mind 
weak or useless." 'T is said that Angling and temper- 
ance were great causes of these blessings, and I wish 
the like to all that imitate him and love the memory 
of so good a man. 

My next and last example shall be that undervaluer 
of money, the late Provost of Eton College, Sir Henry 
Wotton ; a man with whom I have often fished and 
conversed, a man whose foreign employments in the 
service of thi3 nation, and whose experience, learning, 
wit, and cheerfulness made his company to be es- 
teemed one of the delights of mankind. This man, 
whose very approbation of Angling were sufficient to 
convince any modest censurer of it, this man was also a 
most dear lover, and a frequent practise*", of the art of 



84 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

Angling ; of which he would say, " 'T was an employ- 
ment for his idle time, which was then not idly spent": 
for Angling was, after tedious study, " a rest to his 
mind, a cheerer of his spirits, a diverter of sadness, a 
calmer of unquiet thoughts, a moderator of passions, 
a procurer of contentedness " ; and " that it begat 
habits of peace and patience in those that professed 
and practised it." Indeed, my friend, -you will find 
Angling to be like the virtue of humility, which has a 
calmness of spirit, and a world of other blessings 
attending upon it. 

Sir, this was the saying of that learned man, and I 
do easily believe that peace, and patience, and a calm 
content, did cohabit in the cheerful heart of Sir Henry 
Wotton, because I know that, when he was beyond 
seventy years of age, he made this description of a 
part of the present pleasure that possessed him, as he 
sat quietly in a summer's evening on a bank a-fishing. 
It is a description of the Spring, which because it 
glided as soft and sweetly from his pen as that river 
does at this time, by which it was then made, I shall 
repeat it unto you. 

" This day Dame Nature seemed in love : 
The lusty sap began to move ; 
Fresh juice did stir th' embracing vines, 
And birds had drawn their valentines. 
The jealous Trout, that low did lie, 
Rose at a well-dissembled fly : 
There stood my friend, with patient skill, 
Attending of his trembling quill. 
Already were the eaves possest 
With the swift Pilgrim's daubed nest : 



Chap. I.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 85 

The groves already did rejoice 

In Philomel's triumphing voice : 

The showers were short, the weather mild, 

The morning fresh, the evening smiled. 

-Joan takes her neat rubbed pail, and now 
She trips to milk the sand-red cow ; 
Where, for some sturdy foot-ball swain, 
Joan strokes a syllabub or twain. 
The fields and gardens were beset 
With tulips, crocus, violet : 
And now, though late, the modest rose 
Did more than half a blush disclose. 
Thus all looks gay, and full of cheer, 
To welcome the new-liveried vear." 



These were the thoughts that then possessed the 
undisturbed mind of Sir Henry Wotton. Will you 
hear the wish of another Angler, and the commenda- 
tion of his happy life, which he also sings in verse? 
viz. Jo. Davors, Esq. : — 

" Let me live harmlessly, and near the brink 
Of Trent or Avon have a dwelling-place ; 

Where I may see my quill or cork down sink 
With eager bite of Perch, or Bleak, or Dace ; 

And on the world and my Creator think : 

Whilst some men strive ill-gotten goods t' embrace, 

And others spend their time in base excess 

Of wine, or, worse, in war and wantonness. 

'" Let them that list these pastimes still pursue, 
And on such pleasing fancies feed their fill, 
So I the fields and meadows green may view, 
And daily by fresh rivers walk at will, 



86 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Tart I. 

Among the daisies and the violets blue, 

Red hyacinth, and yellew daffodil, 
Purple Narcissus like the morning rays, 
Pale gander-grass, and azure culver-keys. 

" I count it higher pleasure to behold 

The stately compass of the lofty sky, 
And in the midst thereof, like burning gold, 

The flaming chariot of the world's great eye ; 
The watery clouds that in the air up-rolled 

With sundry kinds of painted colors fly ; 
And fair Aurora lifting up her head, 
Still blushing, rise from old Tithonus' bed ; 

"The hills and mountains raised from the plains, 
The plains extended level with the ground. 

The grounds divided into sundry veins, 

The veins enclosed with rivers running round ; 

These rivers making way through Nature's chains 
With headlong course into the sea profound ; 

The raging sea, beneath the valleys low, 

Where lakes and rills and rivulets do flow ; 

"The lofty woods, the forests wide and long, 

Adorned with leaves, and branches fresh and green, 

In whose cool bowers the birds with many a song 
Do welcome with their quire the Summer's Queen ; 

The meadows fair where Flora's gifts among 
Are intermixed, with verdant grass between ; 

The silver-scaled fish that softly swim 

Within the sweet brook's crystal watery stream. 

"All these, and many more of His creation 

That made the heavens, the Angler oft doth see ; 
Taking therein no little delectation, 

To think how strange, how wonderful, they be ! 



Chap. I.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 87 

Framing thereof an inward contemplation, 
To set his heart from other fancies free ; 
And whilst he looks on these with joyful eye, 
His mind is rapt above the starry sky." 

Sir, I am glad my memory has not lost these last 
verses, because they are somewhat more pleasant and 
more suitable to May-day than my harsh discourse ; 
and I am glad your patience hath held out so long as 
to hear them and me, for both together have brought 
us within the sight of the Thatched House ; and I 
must be your debtor, if you think it worth your at- 
tention, for the rest of my promised discourse, till 
some other opportunity and a like time of leisure. 

Ven. Sir, you have Angled me on with much pleas- 
ure to the Thatched House ; and I now find your 
words true, that "good company makes the way 
seem short" : for trust me, Sir, I thought we had 
wanted three miles of this house till you showed it to 
me ; but now we are at it, we '11 turn into it, and re- 
fresh ourselves with a cup of drink and a little rest. 

PlSC. Most gladly, Sir, and we '11 drink a civil cup 
to all the Otter-hunters that are to meet you to- 
morrow. 

Ven. That we will, Sir, and to all the lovers of 
Angling too, of which number I am now willing to be 
one myself; for, by the help of your good discourse 
and company, I have put on new thoughts both of the 
art of Angling, and of all that profess it : and if you 
will but meet me to-morrow at the time and place ap- 
pointed, and bestow one day with me and my friends 
in hunting the Otter, I will dedicate the next two days 



88 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



[Part I. 



to wait upon you, and we' two will for that time do 
nothing but angle, and talk of fish and fishing. 

PlSC. 'T is a match, Sir; I '11 not fail you, God will- 
ing, to be at Amwell Hill to-morrow morning before 
sun- rising. 




Chap. II.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 89 

THE SECOND DAY. 

Chap. II. — Observations of the Otter and Chub. 

Venator. 

TV /TY friend Piscator, you have kept time with my 
•I-"-*- thoughts ; for the sun is just rising, and I my- 
self just now come to this place, and the dogs have 
just now put down an Otter. Look down at the bot- 
tom of the hill there in that meadow, checkered with 
water-lilies and lady-smocks ; there you may see what 
work they make. Look ! look ! you may see all busy, 
men and dogs, dogs and men, all busy. 

PlSC. Sir, I am right glad to meet you, and glad to 
have so fair an entrance into this day's sport, and glad 
to see so many dogs, and more men all in pursuit of 
the Otter. Let 's compliment no longer, but join unto 
them. Come, honest Venator, let's be gone, let us 
make haste ; I long to be doing : no reasonable hedge 
or ditch shall hold me. 

- Ven. Gentleman Huntsman, where found you this 
Otter? 

Hunt. Marry, Sir, we found her a mile from this 
place, a-fishing : she has this morning eaten the 
greatest part of this Trout ; she has only left thus 
much of it, as you see, and was fishing for more. 
When we came, we found her just at it : but we were 
here very early, we were here an hour before sunrise, 
and have given her no rest since we came ; sure she 



9° 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



[Part I. 



will hardly escape all these dogs and men. I am to 
have the skin if we kill her. 

VEN. Why, Sir, what 's the skin worth ? 

Hunt. 'T is worth ten shillings to make gloves ; 
the gloves of an Otter are the best fortification for 
your hands that can be thought on against wet 
weather. 

PlSC. I pray, honest Huntsman, let me ask you a 
pleasant question : Do you hunt a beast or a fish ? 




Hunt. Sir, it is not in my power to resolve you. 
I leave it to be resolved by the College of Carthu- 
sians, who have made vows never to eat flesh. But 
I have heard the question hath been debated among 
many great clerks, and they seem to differ about it ; 
yet most agree that her tail is fish : and if her body 
be fish too, then I may say that a fish will walk upon 
land, for an Otter does so sometimes five, or six, or 
ten miles in a night, to catch for her young ones, or to 
glut herself with fish, and I can tell you that pigeons 



Chap. II.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 91 

will fly forty miles for a breakfast ; but, Sir, I am sure 
the Otter devours much fish, and kills and spoils 
much more than he eats : and I can tell you that this 
Dog-fisher, for so the Latins call him, can smell a fish 
in the water an hundred yards from him: Gesner says 
much farther, and that his stones are good against the 
falling-sickness ; and that there is an herb, Benione, 
which being hung in a linen-cloth near a fish-pond, or 
any haunt that he uses, makes him to avoid the place ; 
which proves he smells both by water and land. And 
I can tell you there is brave hunting this water-dog in 
Cornwall ; where there have been so many, that our 
learned Camden says there is a river called Ottersey, 
which was so named by reason of the abundance of 
Otters that bred and fed in it. 

And thus much for my knowledge of the Otter, 
which you may now see above water at vent, and the 
dogs close with him ; I now see he will not last long : 
follow, therefore, my masters, follow, for Sweetlips 
was like to have him at this last vent. 

Ven. Oh me ! all the horse are got over the river. 
What shall we do now ? shall we follow them over the 
water ? 

Hunt. No, Sir, no, be not so eager : stay a little 
and follow me, for both they and the dogs will be 
suddenly on this side again, I warrant you ; and the 
Otter too, it may be. Now have at him with Kilbuck, 
for he vents again. \y 

Ven. Marry, so he does, for look, he vents in that 
corner. Now, now Ringwood has him : now he 's 
gone again, and has bit the poor dog. Now Sweet- 



92 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

lips has her; hold her, Sweetlips ! Now all the dogs 
have her, some, above and some under water ; but 
now, now she 's tired, and past losing : come, bring 
her to me, Sweetlips. Look, 't is a Bitch-Otter, and 
she has lately whelped : let 's go to the place where 
she was put down, and not far from it you will find 
all her young ones, I dare warrant you, and kill them 
all too. 

Hunt. Come, Gentlemen ! come all ! let 's go to 
the place where we put down the Otter. Look you, 
hereabout it was that she kennelled ; look you, here it 
was indeed, for here 's her young ones, no less than 
live : come, let 's kill them all. 

PlSC. No, I pray, Sir, save me one, and I '11 try if I 
can make her tame, as I know an ingenious gentle- 
man in Leicestershire, Mr. Nich. Seagrave, has done ; 
who hath not only made her tame, but to catch fish, 
and do many other things of much pleasure. 

Hunt. Take one with all my heart, but let us kill 
the rest. And now let 's go to an honest ale-house, 
where we may have a cup of good barley-wine, and 
sing " Old Rose," and all of us rejoice together. 

Ven. Come, my friend Piscator, let me invite you 
along with us. I '11 bear your charges this night, and 
you shall bear mine to-morrow ; for my intention is to 
accompany you a day or two in fishing. 

PlSC. Sir, your request is granted, and I shall be 
right glad, both to exchange such a courtesy, and also 
to enjoy your company. 

Ven. Well, now let 's go to your sport of Angling. 



Chap. II.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 93 

PlSC. Let 's be going with all my heart. God keep 
you all, Gentlemen, and send you meet this day with 
another Bitch-Otter, and kill her merrily, and all her 
young ones too. 

Ven. Now, Piscator, where will we begin to fish ? 

PlSC. We are not yet come to a likely place : I 
must walk a mile further yet, before I begin. 

Ven. Well then, I pray, as we walk, tell me freely 
how do you like your lodging, and mine host, and the 
company? Is not mine host a witty man ? 

PlSC. Sir, I will tell you presently what I think of 
your host ; but first I will tell you, I am glad these 
Otters were killed, and I am sorry that there are no. 
more otter-killers : for I know that the want of otter- 
killers, and the not keeping the Fence-months for 
the preservation of fish, will in time prove the de- 
struction of all rivers ; and those very few that are 
left, that make conscience of the laws of the nation, 
and of keeping days of abstinence, will be forced 
to eat flesh, or suffer more inconveniences than are 
yet foreseen. 

Ven. Why, Sir, what be those that you call the 
Fence-months ? 

PlSC. Sir, they be principally three, namely, March, 
April, and May ; for these be the usual months that 
Salmon come out of the sea to spawn in most fresh 
rivers, and their fry would about a certain time return 
back to the salt water, if they were not hindered by 
weirs and unlawful gins, which the greedy fishermen 
set, and so destroy them by thousands ; as they would, 
being so taught by Nature, change the fresh for salt 



94 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

water. He that shall view the wise statutes made in 
the 13th of Edward I., and the like in Richard II., may- 
see several provisions made against the destruction of 
fish ; and though I profess no knowledge of the law, 
yet I am sure the regulation of these defects might be 
easily mended. But I remember that a wise friend 
of mine did usually say, "That which is everybody's 
business is nobody's business"; if it 'were other- 
wise, there could not be so many nets and fish that 
are under the statute size sold daily amongst us, and 
of which the conservators of the waters should be 
ashamed. 

But above all, the taking fish in spawning-time 
may be said to be against nature ; it is like the taking 
the dam on the nest when she hatches her young ; a 
sin so against nature, that Almighty God hath in 
the Levitical law, Deuteron. xxii. 6, 7, made a law 
against it. 

But the poor fish have enemies enough beside such 
unnatural Fishermen, as namely, the Otters that I 
spake of, the Cormorant, the Bittern, the Osprey, the 
Sea-gull, the Heron, the Kingfisher, the Gorara, the 
Puet, the Swan, Goose, Ducks, and the Craber, which 
some call the Water-rat : against all which any hon- 
est man may make a just quarrel, but I will not, I will 
leave them to be quarrelled with and killed by others ; 
for I am not of a cruel nature, — I love to kill nothing 
but fish. 

And now to your question concerning your host. 
To speak truly, he is not to me a good companion : 
for most of his conceits were either Scripture jests, or 



Chap. II.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 95 

lascivious jests ; for which I count no man witty, for 
the Devil will help a man that way inclined, to the 
first, and his own corrupt nature, which he always 
carries with him, to the latter : but a companion that 
feasts the company with wit and mirth, and leaves out 
the sin which is usually mixed with them, he is the 
man ; and indeed such a companion should have his 
charges borne, and to such company I hope to bring 
you this night ; for at Trout Hall, not far from this 
place, where I purpose to lodge to-night, there is 
usually an Angler that proves good company. And 
let me tell you, good company and good discourse 
are the very sinews of virtue : but for such discourse 
as we heard last night, it infects others, the very 
boys will learn to talk and swear as they heard 
mine host, and another of the company that shall 
be nameless ; I am sorry the other is a gentleman, 
for less religion will not save their souls than a beg- 
gar's : I think more will be required at the last great 
day. Well, you know what example is able to do ; 
and 1 know what the poet says in the like case, 
which is worthy to be noted by all parents and peo- 
ple of civility : — 

" Many a one 
Owes to his country his religion : 
And in another would as strongly grow, 
Had but his nurse or mother taught him so." 

This is reason put into verse, and worthy the 
consideration of a wise man. But of this no more, 
for though I love civility, yet I hate severe cen- 
sures : I '11 to my own art, and I doubt not but 



96 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

at yonder tree I shall catch a. Chub, and then we '11 
turn to an honest cleanly hostess, that I know 
right well, rest ourselves there, and dress it for 
our dinner. 

Ven. O Sir ! a Chub is the worst fish that swims ; 
I hoped for a Trout to my dinner. 

PiSC. Trust me, Sir, there is not a likely place for 
a Trout hereabout, and we stayed so long- to take our 
leave of your huntsmen this morning, that the sun is 
got so high, and shines so clear, that I will not under- 
take the catching of a Trout till evening. And though 
a Chub be by you and many others reckoned the worst 
of fish, yet you shall see I '11 make it a good fish by 
dressing it. 

Ven. Why, how will you dress him ? 

PiSC. I '11 tell you by and by, when I have caught 
him. Look you here, Sir, do you see? — but you must 
stand very close, — there lie upon the top of the water 
in this very hole twenty Chubs. I '11 catch only one, 
and that shall be the biggest of them all ; and that I 
will do so I '11 hold you twenty to one, and you shall 
see it done. 

Ven. Ay, marry, Sir ! now you talk like an art- 
ist ; and I '11 say you are one, when I shall see 
you perform what you say you can do : but I yet 
doubt it. 

PiSC. You shall not doubt it long, for you shall see 
me do it presently. Look, the biggest of these Chubs 
has had some bruise upon his tail, by a pike or some 
other accident, and that looks like a white spot; 
that veiy Chub I mean to put into your hands pres- 



Chap. II.] 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



97 



ently ; sit you but down in the shade, and stay but a 
little while, and 1 '11 warrant you I '11 bring him to 
you. 

Ven. I '11 sit down and hope well, because you 
seem to be so confident. 

PlSC. Look you, Sir, there is a trial of my skill; 
there he is : 




that very Chub that I showed you with the white spot 
on .his tail ; and I '11 be as certain to make him a good 
dish of meat, as I was to catch him. I '11 now lead 
you to an honest ale-house, where we shall find a 
cleanly room, lavender in the windows, and twenty 
ballads stuck about the wall : there my hostess, which 
I may tell you is both cleanly, and handsome, and 
civil, hath dressed many a one for me, and shall 
now dress it after my fashion, and I warrant it good 
meat. 

Ven. Come, Sir, with all my heart, for I begin to 
be hungry, and long to be at it, and indeed to rest 
myself too ; for though I have walked but four miles 

S G 



98 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

this morning, yet I begin to be weary ; yesterday's 
hunting hangs still upon me. 

PlSC. Well, Sir, and you shall quickly be at rest, 
for yonder is the house I mean to bring you to. 

Come, Hostess, how do you? Will you first give 
us a cup of your best drink, and then dress this Chub, 
as you dressed my last, when I and my friend were 
here about eight or ten days ago ? But you must do 
me one courtesy, it must be done instantly. 

HOSTESS. I will do it, Mr. Piscator, and with all 
the speed I can. 

PlSC. Now, Sir, has not my hostess made haste ? 
and does not the fish look lovely? 

Ven. Both, upon my word, Sir ; and therefore 
let 's say grace, and fall to eating of it. 

PlSC. Well, Sir, how do you like it ? 

Ven. Trust me, 't is as good meat as I ever tast- 
ed : but now let me thank you for it, drink to you, 
and beg a courtesy of you ; but it must not be de- 
nied me. 

PlSC. What is it, I pray, Sir ? You are so modest, 
that methinks I may promise to grant it before it is 
asked. 

VEN. Why, Sir, it is that from henceforth you 
would allow me to call you Master, and that really 
I may be your scholar ; for you are such a compan- 
ion, and have so quickly caught and so excellently 
cooked this fish, as makes me ambitious to be your 
scholar. 

PlSC. Give me your hand ; from this time for- 
ward I will be your master, and teach you as much 



Chap. II.] 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



99 



of this art as I am able ; and will, as you desire me, 
tell you somewhat of the nature of most of the fish 
that we are to angle for; and I am sure I both can 
and will tell you more than any common Angler yet 
knows. 




THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 



THE THIRD DAY. 

Chap. III.- — How to fish for, and to dress, the Chavender, 
or Chub. 

PlSCATOR. 

r rHE Chub, though he eat well thus dressed, yet as 
■*■ he is usually dressed he does not : he is objected 
against, not only for being full of small forked bones, 
dispersed through all his body, but that he eats water- 
ish, and that the flesh of him is not firm, but short 
and tasteless. The French esteem him so mean, as 
to call him un Vilain j nevertheless he may be so 
dressed as to make him very good meat : as, namely, 
if he be a large Chub, then dress him thus : — 

First scale him, and then wash him clean, and then 
take out his guts ; and to that end make the hole 
as little and near to his gills as you may conveniently, 
and especially make clean his throat from the grass 
and weeds that are usually in it, for if that be not very 
clean, it will make him to taste very sour. Having so 
done, put some sweet herbs into his belly ; and then 
tie him with two or three splinters to a spit, and roast 
him, basted often with vinegar, or rather verjuice and 
butter, with good store of salt mixed with it. 

Being thus dressed, you will find him a much better 
dish of meat than you, or most folk, even than An- 
glers themselves, do imagine ; for this dries up the 
fluid watery humor with which all Chubs do abound. 

But take this rule with you, that a Chub newly 



Chap. III.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. IOI 

taken and newly dressed is so much better than a 
Chub of a day's keeping after he is dead, that I can 
compare him to nothing so fitly as to cherries newly 
gathered from a tree, and others that have been 
bruised and lain a day or two in water. But the 
Chub being thus used and dressed presently, and not 
washed after he is gutted, — for note, that, lying long 
in water, and washing the blood out of any fish after 
they be gutted, abates much of their sweetness, — 
you will find the Chub, being dressed in the blood 
and quickly, to be such meat as will recompense your 
labor, and disabuse your opinion. 

Or you may dress the Chavender or Chub thus - — 
When you have scaled him, and cut off his tail and 
fins, and washed him very clean, then chine or slit 
him through the middle, as a salt fish is usually cut ; 
then give him three or four cuts or scotches on the 
back with your knife, and broil him on charcoal, or 
wood-coal that is free from smoke ; and all the time 
he is a-broiling, baste him with the best sweet butter, 
and good store of salt mixed with it ; and to this add 
a little thyme cut exceeding small, or bruised into 
the butter. The Cheven thus dressed hath the watery 
taste taken away, for which so many except against 
him. Thus was the Cheven dressed that you now 
liked so well, and commended so much. But note 
again, that if this Chub that you ate of had been 
kept till to-morrow, he had not been worth a rush. 
And remember that his throat be washed very clean, 
— I say very clean, — and his body not washed after 
he is gutted, as indeed no fish should be. 

Well, Scholar, you see what pains I have taken to 



102 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

recover the lost credit of the -poor, despised Chub. 
And now I will give you some rules how to catch 
him : and I am glad to enter you into the art of Fish- 
ing by catching a Chub, for there is no fish better to 
enter a young Angler, he is so easily caught ; but 
then it must be this particular way. 

Go to the same hole in which I caught my Chub, 
where in most hot days you will find -a dozen or 
twenty Chevens floating near the top of the water. 
Get two or three grasshoppers as you go over the 
meadow ; and get secretly behind the tree, and stand 
as free from motion as is possible. Then put a grass- 
hopper on your hook, and let your hook hang a quar- 
ter of a yard short of the water, to which end you 
must rest your rod on some bough of the tree. But 
it is likely the Chubs will sink down towards the 
bottom of the water at the first shadow of your rod, 
for a Chub is the fearfullest of fishes, and will do so if 
but a bird flies over him, and makes the least shadow 
on the water ; but they will presently rise up to the 
top again, and there lie soaring till some shadow af- 
frights them again. I say, when they lie upon the top 
of the water, look out the best Chub, which you, set- 
ting yourself in a fit place, may very easily see, and 
move your rod as softly as a snail moves to that 
Chub you intend to catch : let your bait fall gently 
upon the water three or four inches before him, and 
he will infallibly take the bait. And you. will be as 
sure to catch him ; for he is one of the leather- 
mouthed fishes, of which a hook does scarcely ever 
lose its hold ; and, therefore, give him play enough 
before you offer to take him out of the water. Go 



Chap. III.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 103 

your way presently ; take my rod, and do as I bid 
you, and I will sit down and mend my tackling till 
you return back. 

Ven. Truly, my loving Master, you have offered 
me as fair as I could wish. I '11 go and observe your 
directions. 

Look you, Master, what I have done ! that which joys 
my heart, caught just such another Chub as yours was. 

PlSC. Marry, and I am glad of it ; I am like to have 
a towardly scholar of you. I now see that, with advice 
and practice, you will make an Angler in a short time. 
Have but a love to it, and I '11 warrant you. 

Ven. But, Master, what if I could not have found 
a grasshopper ? 

PlSC. Then I may tell you, that a black snail, with 
his belly slit to show his white, or a piece of soft 
cheese, will usually do as well. Nay, sometimes a 
worm, or any kind of fly, as the Ant-fly, the Flesh-fly, 
or Wall-fly, or the Dor or Beetle, which you may 
find under cow-dung, or a Bob, which you will find in 
the same place, and in time will be a Beetle, — it is a 
short white worm, like to and bigger than a gentle, — 
or a Cod- worm, or a Case-worm, — any of these will 
do very well to fish in such a manner. 

And after this manner you may catch a Trout in a 
hot evening ; when, as you walk by a brook, and shall 
see or hear him leap at flies, then if you get a grass- 
hopper, put it on your hook, with your line about two 
yards long, standing behind a bush or tree where his 
hole is, and make your bait stir up and down on the 
top of the water. You may, if you stand close, be 
sure of a bite, but not sure to catch him, for he is not 



104 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

a leather-mouthed fish : and after this manner you 
may fish for him with almost any kind of live fly, but 
especially with a grasshopper. 

Ven. But before you go further, I pray, good Mas- 
ter, what mean you by a leather-mouthed fish ? 

PlSC. By a leather-mouthed fish, I mean such as 
have their teeth in their throat, as the Chub or Che- 
ven ; and so the Barbel, the Gudgeon, and Carp, and 
divers others have ; and the hook, being stuck into the 
leather, or skin, of the mouth of such fish, does very 
seldom or never lose its hold : but on the contrary, a 
Pike, a Perch, or Trout, and so some other fish, — 
which have not their teeth in their throats, but in their 
mouths, which you shall observe to be very full of 
bones, and the skin very thin, and little of it ; — I 
say, of these fish the hook never takes so sure hold 
but you often lose your fish, unless he have gorged it. 

Ven. 1 thank you, good Master, for this observa- 
tion ; but now what shall be done with my Chub or 
Cheven that I have caught. 

PlSC. Marry, Sir, it shall be given away to some 
poor body, for I '11 warrant you I '11 give you a Trout 
for your supper : and it is a good beginning of your 
art to offer your first-fruits to the poor, who will both 
thank God and you for it, which I see by your silence 
you seem to consent to. And for your willingness to 
part with it so charitably, I will also teach you more 
concerning Chub-fishing. You are to note that in 
March and April he is usually taken with worms ; in 
May, June, and July he will bite at any fly, or at 
cherries, or at beetles with their legs and wings cut 
off, or at any kind of snail, or at the black bee that 



Chap. III.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 105 

breeds in clay-walls ; and he never refuses a grasshop- 
per on the top of a swift stream, nor, at the bottom, 
the young humble-bee that breeds in long grass, and 
is ordinarily found by the mower of it. In August, 
and in the cooler months, a yellow paste, made of the 
strongest cheese, and pounded in a mortar with a 
little butter and saffron, so much of it as being beaten 
small will turn it to a lemon color. And some make 
a paste for the winter months, — at which time the 
Chub is accounted best, for then it is observed that 
the forked bones are lost or turned into a kind of 
gristle, especially if he be baked, — of cheese and 
turpentine. He will bite also at a Minnow or Penk, 
as a Trout will ; of which I shall tell you more here- 
after, and of divers other baits. But take this for a 
rule, that in hot weather he is to be fished for towards 
the mid-water, or near the top ; and in colder weather 
nearer the bottom. And if you fish for him on the 
top with a beetle or any fly, then be sure to let your 
line be very long, and to keep out of sight. And 
having told you that his spawn is excellent meat, and 
that the head of a large Cheven, the throat being well 
washed, is the best part of him, I will say no more of 
this fish at the present, but wish you may catch the 
next you fish for. 

But lest you may judge me too nice in urging to 
have the Chub dressed so presently after he is taken, 
I will commend to your consideration how curious 
former times have been in the like kind. 

You shall read in Seneca his " Natural Questions," 
Lib. iii. cap. 17, that the ancients were so curious in 
5* 



io6 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



[Part I. 



the newness of their fish, that that seemed not new 
enough that was not put alive into the guest's hand ; 
and he says that to that end they did usually keep 
them living in glass bottles in their dining-rooms ; 
and they did glory much, in their entertaining of 
friends, to have that fish taken from under their table 
alive, that was instantly to be fed upon. And he says 
they took great pleasure to see their Mullets change 
to several colors, when they were dying. But enough 
of this, for I doubt I have stayed too long from 
giving you some observations of the Trout, and how 
to fish for him, which shall take up the next of my 
spare time. 




Chap. IV.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 107 



THE THIRD DAY. 

Chap. IV. — Observations of the Nature and Breeding 
of the Trout, and how to fish for him. And the fililk- 
maid's Song. 

PlSCATOR. 

HP HE Trout is a fish highly valued both in this and 
foreign nations. He may be justly said, as the 
old poet said of wine, and we English say of venison, 
to be a generous fish : a fish that is so like the buck 
that he also has his seasons ; for it is observed, that 
he comes in and goes out of season with the stag and 
buck. Gesner says his name is of a German off- 
spring, and says he is a fish that feeds clean and 
purely, in the swiftest streams, and on the hardest 
gravel ; and that he may justly contend with all fresh- 
water fish, as the Mullet may with all sea-fish, for pre- 
cedency and daintiness of taste, and that, being in 
right season, the most dainty palates have allowed 
precedency to him. 

And before I go further in my discourse, let me tell 
you that you are to observe, that, as there be some 
barren does, that are good in summer, so there be 
some barren Trouts that are good in winter ; but there 
are not many that are so, for usually they be in their 
perfection in the month of May, and decline with the 
buck. Now you are to take notice, that in several 
countries, as in Germany and in other parts, compared 
to ours, fish do differ much in their bigness, and 



io8 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



[Part I. 



shape, and other ways, and so do Trouts. It is well 
known that in the Lake Leman, the Lake of Geneva, 
there are Trouts taken of three cubits long, as is af- 
firmed by Gesner, a writer of good credit ; and Mer- 
cator says, the Trouts that are taken in the Lake of 
Geneva are a great part of the merchandise of that 
famous city. And you are further to know, that there 
be certain waters that breed Trouts remarkable both 
for their number and smallness. I know a little brook 
in Kent that breeds them to a number incredible, and 
you may take them twenty or forty in an hour, but 
none greater than about the size of a gudgeon. There 
are also in divers rivers, especially that relate to, or be 
near to the sea, as Winchester, or the Thames about 
Windsor, a little Trout called a Samlet or Skesra;er- 




Trout, — in both which places I have caught twenty 
or forty at a standing, — that will bite as fast and as 
freely as minnows ; these be by some taken to be 
young Salmons, but in those waters they never grow 
to be bigger than a herring. 

There is also in Kent near to Canterbury a Trout 
called there a Fordidge Trout, a Trout that bears the 
name of the town where it is usually caught, that is 



Chap. IV.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 109 

accounted the rarest of fish ; many of them near the 
bigness of a Salmon, but known by their different 
color, and in their best season they cut very white: 
and none of these have been known to be caught with 
an angle, unless it were one that was caught by Sir 
George Hastings, an excellent Angler, and now with 
God ; and he hath told me, he thought that Trout bit 
not for hunger but wantonness ; and is the rather to 
be believed, because both he then, and many others 
before him, have been curious to search into their 
bellies, v/hat the food was by which they lived : and 
have found out nothing by which they might satisfy 
their curiosity. 

Concerning which you are to take notice, that it 
is reported by good authors, that grasshoppers, and 
some fish, have no mouths, but are nourished and 
take breath by the porousness of their gills, man 
knows not how ; and this may be believed, if we con- 
sider that, when the Raven hath hatched her eggs, she 
takes no further care, but leaves her vouns: ones to the 
care of the God of nature, who is said in the Psalms, 
(Psal. clxvii. 9,) " to feed the young ravens that call 
upon him." And they be kept alive, and fed by a 
dew, or worms that breed in their nests, or some 
other ways that we mortals know not ; and this may 
be believed of the Fordidge Trout, which, as it is said 
of the Stork, Jerem. viii. 7, that " he knows his 
season," so he knows his times, I think almost his 
day of coming into that river out of the sea ; where he 
lives, and, it is like, feeds, nine months of the year, 
and fasts three in the river of Fordidge. And you 



IIO THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

are to note that those townsmen are very punctual in 
observing the time of beginning to fish for them ; and 
boast much that their river affords a Trout that ex- 
ceeds all others. And just so does Sussex boast of 
several fish ; as namely, a Shelsey Cockle, a Chi- 
chester Lobster, an Arundel Mullet, and an Amerly 
Trout. 

And now for some confirmation of the Fordidge 
Trout : you are to know that this Trout is thought 
to eat nothing in the fresh water ; and it may be the 
better believed, because it is well known that swal- 
lows and bats and wagtails, which are called half- 
year birds, and not seen to fly in England for six 
months in the year, but about Michaelmas leave us 
for a hotter climate : yet some of them 

View Sir 

Fran. Bacon, that have been left behind their fellows 

Exper. 899. 

have been found, many thousands at a 
time, in hollow trees, or clay caves, where they have 
been observed to live and sleep out the whole winter 
without meat. And so Albertus observes, that there 
See Topsel * s one kind of frog that hath her mouth 
ofFiogs. naturally shut up about the end of Au- 
gust, and that she lives so all the winter : and though 
it be strange to some, yet it is known to too many 
among us to be doubted. 

And so much for these Fordidge Trouts, which 
never afford an Angler sport, but either live their time 
of being in the fresh water by their meat formerly 
gotten in the sea, not unlike the swallow or frog, or 
by the virtue of the fresh water only ; or as the Bird 
of Paradise and the Chameleon are said to live, by the 
sun and the air. 



Cii\p. IV.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. Ill 

There is also in Northumberland a Trout called a 
Bull-Trout, of a much greater length and bigness 
than any in these southern parts : and there are in 
many rivers that relate to the sea Salmon-Trouts, as 
much different from others, both in shape and in their 
spots, as we see sheep in some countries differ one 
from another in their shape and bigness, and in the 
fineness of their wool ; and certainly, as some pas- 
tures breed larger sheep, so do some rivers, by reason 
of the ground over which they run, breed larger 
Trouts. 

Now the next thing that I will commend to your 
consideration is, that the Trout is of a more sudden 
growth than other fish : concerning which you are 
also to take notice, that he lives not so long as the 
Perch and divers other fishes do, as Sir Francis 
Bacon hath observed in his "History of Life and 
Death." 

And next you are to take notice, that he is not 
like the Crocodile, which, if he lives never so long, 
yet always thrives till his death : but 't is not so with 
the Trout ; for after he has come to his full growth, 
* he declines in his body, and keeps his bigness or 
thrives only in his head, till his death. And you are 
to know, that he will about, especially before, the time 
of his spawning, get almost miraculously through 
weirs and flood-gates against the streams : even 
through such high and swift places as is almost in- 
credible. Next, that the Trout usually spawns about 
October or November, but in some rivers a little 
sooner or later : which is the more observable, because 



112 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

most other fish spawn in the spring or summer, when 
the sun hath warmed both the earth and water, and 
made it fit for generation. And you are to note, that 
he continues many months out of season : for it 
may be observed of the Trout, that he is like the 
Buck or the Ox, that will not be fat in many months, 
though he go in the very same pasture that horses do, 
which will be fat in one month ; and so you may ob- 
serve, that most other fishes recover strength, and 
grow sooner fat and in season, than the Trout doth. 

And next you are to note, that till the sun gets to 
such a height as to warm the earth and the water, the 
Trout is sick, and lean, and lousy, and unwholesome : 
for you shall in winter find him to have a big head, 
and then to be lank, and thin, and lean : at which 
time many of them have sticking on them Sugs, or 
Trout-lice, which is a kind of a worm, in shape like a 
clove or pin, with a big head, and sticks close to him 
and sucks his moisture ; those, I think, the Trout 
breeds himself, and never thrives till he free himself 
from them, which is when warm weather comes ; and 
then, as he grows stronger, he gets from the dead still 
water into the sharp streams and the gravel, and there 
rubs off these worms or lice ; and then, as he grows 
stronger, so he gets him into swifter and swifter , 
streams, and there lies at the watch for any fly or 
minnow that comes near to him : and he especially 
loves the May-fly, which is bred of the Cod-worm, or 
Cadis ; and these make the Trout bold and lusty, and 
he is usually fatter and better meat at the end of that 
month than at any time of the year. 



Chap. IV.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 113 

Now you are to know, that it is observed that 
usually the best Trouts are either red or yellow ; 
though some, as the Fordidge Trout, be white and 
yet good ; but that is not usual : and it is a note 
observable, that the female Trout hath usually a less 
head and a deeper body than the male Trout, and is 
usually the better meat. And note, that a hog-back 
and a little head, to either Trout, Salmon, or any 
other fish, is a sign that that fish is in season. 

But yet you are to note, that as you see some wil- 
lows, or palm-trees, bud and blossom sooner than 
others do, so some Trouts be in rivers sooner in 
season : and as some hollies or oaks are longer be- 
fore they cast their leaves, so are some Trouts in 
rivers longer before they go out of season. 

And you are to note, that there are several kinds of 
Trouts ; but these several kinds are not considered but 
by very few men, for they go under the general name 
of Trouts : just as Pigeons do in most places ; though 
it is certain there are tame and wild Pigeons : and 
of the tame, there be Helmits and Runts, and Car- 
riers and Cropers, and indeed too many to name. 
Nay, the Royal Society have found and published 
lately, that there be thirty and three kinds of Spiders : 
and yet all, for aught I know, go under that one gen- 
eral name of Spider. And 't is so with many kinds of 
fish, and of Trouts especially, which differ in their 
bigness, and shape, and spots, and color. The great 
Kentish Hens may be an instance compared to other 
hens ; and doubtless there is a kind of small Trout, 
which will never thrive to be big, that breeds very 



114 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

many more than others do that be of a larger size : 
which you may rather believe, if you consider that the 
little Wren or Titmouse will have twenty young ones at 
a time, when usually the noble Hawk, or the musical 
Thrassel or Blackbird, exceed not four or five. 

And now you shall see me try my skill to catch a 
Trout, and at my next walking, either this evening or 
to-morrow morning, I will give you direction how you 
yourself shall fish for him. 

VEN. Trust me, Master, I see now it is a harder 
matter to catch a Trout than a Chub : for I have put 
on patience, and followed you these two hours, and 
not seen a fish stir, neither at your minnow nor your 
worm. 

PlSC. Well, Scholar, you must endure worse luck 
some time, or you will never make a good Angler. 
But what say you now ? there is a Trout now, and 
a good one too, if I can but hold him, and two or 
three turns more will tire him. Now you see he lies 
still, and the sleight is to land him : reach me that 
landing-net. So, Sir, now he is mine own, what say 
you now ? is not this worth all my labor and your 
patience ? 

Ven. On my word, Master, this is a gallant Trout ; 
what shall we do with him ? 

PlSC. Marry, e'en eat him to supper : we '11 go to 
my Hostess, from whence we came : she told me, as I 
was going out of door, that my brother Peter, a good 
Angler and a cheerful companion, had sent word he 
would lodge there to-night, and bring a friend with 
him. My Hostess has two beds, and I know you 



Chap. IV.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 115 

and I may have the best : we '11 rejoice with my 
brother Peter and his friend, tell tales, or sing ballads, 
or make a catch, or find some harmless sport to con- 
tent us, and pass away a little time without offence to 
God or man. 

Ven. A match, good Master : let 's go to that 
house, for the linen looks white, and smells of laven- 
der, and I long to lie in a pair of sheets that smell so. 
Let 's be going, good Master, for I am hungry again 
with fishing. 

PlSC. Nay, stay a little, good Scholar : I caught my 
last Trout with a worm; now I will put on a minnow 
and try a quarter of an hour about yonder trees for 
another, and so walk towards our lodging. Look you, 
Scholar, thereabout we- shall have a bite presently, or 
not at all. Have with you, Sir ! o' my word, I have 
hold of him. Oh ! it is a great logger-headed Chub ; 
come, hang him upon that willow-twig, and let's be 
going. But turn out of the way a little, good Scholar, 
towards yonder high honeysuckle hedge ; there we '11 
sit and sing whilst this shower falls so gently upon the 
teeming earth, and gives yet a sweeter smell to the 
lovely flowers that adorn these verdant meadows. 

Look, under that broad beech-tree I sat down, 
when I was last this way a-fishing, and the birds in 
the adjoining grove seemed to have a friendly conten- 
tion with an echo, whose dead voice seemed to live in 
a hollow tree, near to the brow of that primrose hill ; 
there I sat viewing the silver streams glide silently 
towards their centre, the tempestuous sea ; yet some- 
times opposed by rugged roots, and pebble-stones, 



Il6 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

which broke their waves, and turned them into foam : 
and sometimes I beguiled time by viewing the harm- 
less lambs, some leaping securely in the cool shade, 
whilst others sported themselves in the cheerful sun ; 
and saw others craving comfort from the swollen ud- 
ders of their bleating dams. As I thus sat, these and 
other sights had so fully possessed my soul with con- 
sent, that I thought, as the poet has happily expressed 

it, 

" I was for that time lifted above earth, 
And possessed joys not promised in my birth." 

As I left this place, and entered into the next field, 
a second pleasure entertained me ; 't was a handsome 
Milkmaid that had not yet attained so much age and 
wisdom as to load her mind with any fears of many 
things that will never be, as too many men too often 
do ; but she cast away all care, and sung like a night- 
ingale. Her voice was good, and the ditty fitted for 
it ; 't was that smooth song, which was made by Kit 
Marlowe, now at least fifty years ago : and the Milk- 
maid's mother sung an answer to it, which was made 
by Sir Walter Raleigh in his younger days. 

They were old-fashioned poetry, but choicely good, 
I think much better than the strong lines that are now 
in fashion in this critical age. Look yonder ! on my 
word, yonder they both be a-milking again. I will 
give her the Chub, and persuade them to sing those 
two songs to us. 

God speed you, good woman ! I have been a-fish- 
ing, and am going to Bleak Hall to my bed; and hav- 
ing caught more fish than will sup myself and my 



Chap. IV.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 117 

friend, I will bestow this upon you and your daughter, 
for I use to sell none. 

Milk-w. Marry, God requite you ! Sir, and we '11 
eat it cheerfully ; and if you come this way a-fishing 
two months hence, a-grace of God 1 '11 give you a 
syllabub of new verjuice in a new-made hay-cock for 
it, and my Maudlin shall sing you one of her best bal- 
lads ; for she and I both love all Anglers, they be such 
honest, civil, quiet men. In the mean time will you 
drink a draught of red cow's milk ? you shall have it 
freely. 

PlSC. No, I thank you ; but I pray do us a courtesy 
that shall stand you and your daughter in nothing, 
and yet we will think ourselves still something in your 
debt : it is but to sing us a song that was sung by 
your daughter when I last passed over this meadow, 
about eight or nine days since. 

MlLK-W. What song was it, I pray? Was it 
"Come, Shepherds, deck your herds"? or, "As at 
noon Dulcina rested"? or " Philida flouts me"? or 
Chevy Chace ? or Johnny Armstrong ? or Troy Town ? 

PlSC. No, it is none of those : it is a song that 
your daughter sung the first part, and you sung the 
answer to it. 

MlLK-W. O, I know it now ; I learned the first part 
in my golden age, when I was about the age of my 
poor daughter ; and the latter part, which indeed fits 
me best now, but two or three years ago, when the 
cares of the world began to take hold of me : but you 
shall, God willing, hear them both, and sung as well 
as we can, for wc both love Anglers. Come, Maudlin, 



Il8 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

sing the first part to the gentlemen with a merry heart, 
and I '11 sing the second, when you have done. 

"THE MILK-MAID'S SONG. 

" Come, live with me, and be my love, 
And we will all the pleasure prove 
That valleys, groves, or hills, or field, 
Or woods and steepy mountains yield, — - 

" Where we will sit upon the rocks, 
And see the shepherds feed our flocks, 
By shallow rivers, to whose falls 
Melodious birds sing madrigals. 

"And I will make thee beds of roses, 
And then a thousand fragrant posies ; 
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle 
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle ; 

" A gown made of the finest wool, 
Which from our pretty lambs we pull ; 
Slippers lined choicely for the cold, 
With buckles of the purest gold ; 

" A belt of straw, and ivy -buds, 
With coral clasps and amber studs ; — 
And if these pleasures may thee move, 
Come, live with me, and be my love. 

"Thy silver dishes for thy meat, 
As precious as the Gods do eat, 
Shall on an ivory table be 
Prepared each day for thee and me. 

"The shepherd swains shall dance and sing 
For thy delight each May morning : 
If these delights thy mind may move, 
Then live with me, and be my love." 




John Kbs -flfyn 



f - mzate • : ■ 



Chap. IV] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 119 

Ven. Trust me, Master, it is a choice song, and 
sweetly sung by honest Maudlin. I now see it was 
not without cause that our good Queen Elizabeth did 
so often wish herself a Milkmaid all the month of 
May, because they are not troubled with fears and 
cares, but sing sweetly all the day, and sleep securely 
all the night : and, without doubt, honest, innocent, 
pretty Maudlin does so. I '11 bestow Sir Thomas 
Overbury's Milkmaid's wish upon her, — "that she may 
die in the Spring ; and, being dead, may have good 
store of flowers stuck round about her winding-sheet." 

"THE MILK-MAID'S MOTHER'S ANSWER. 

' ' If all the world and love were young, 
And truth in every shepherd's tongue. 
These pretty pleasures might me move 
To live with thee, and be thy love. 

' ' But time drives flocks from field to fold : 
When rivers rage, and rocks grow cold, 
Then Philomel becometh dumb, 
And age complains of cares to come. 

"The flowers do fade, and wanton fields 
To wayward Winter reckoning yields : 
A honey tongue, a heart of gall, 
Is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall. 

" Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses, 
Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies, 
Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten ; 
In folly ripe, in reason rotten. 

" Thy belt of straw, and ivy -buds, 
Thy coral clasps and amber studs, 



120 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

All these in me no means can move 
To come to thee, and be thy Love. 

- " What should we talk of dainties then, 
Of better meat than 's fit for men ? 
These are but vain : that 's only good 
Which God hath blest, and sent for food. 

"But could youth last, and love still breed, 
Had joys no date, nor age no need, — 
Then those delights my mind might move, 
To live with thee, and be thy love. " 

Mother. Well, I have done my song. But stay, 
honest Anglers, for I will make Maudlin to sing you 
one short song more. Maudlin, sing that song that 
you sung last night, when young Coridon the Shep- 
herd played so purely on his oaten pipe to you and 
your Cousin Retty. 

Maud. I will, Mother. 

" I married a wife of late, 
The more 's my unhappy fate : 
I married her for love, 
As my fancy did me move, 
And not for a worldly estate : 

" But oh ! the green-sickness 
Soon changed her likeness, 
And all her beauty did fail. 
But 't is not so 
With those that go, 
Through frost and snow, 
As all men know, 
And carry the milking-pail." 



Chap. IV.] 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



PlSC. Well sung ! Good woman, I thank you. I '11 
give you another dish of fish one of these days ; and 
then beg another song of you. Come, Scholar, let 
Maudlin alone : do not you offer to spoil her voice. 
Look ! yonder comes mine Hostess, to call us to sup- 
per. How now ! is my brother Peter come ? 

Host. Yes, and a friend with him ; they are both 
glad to hear that you are in these parts, and long to 
see you, and long to be at supper, for they be very 
hungry. 




THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 



THE THIRD AND FOURTH DAYS. 

Chap. V. — More Directions Jwzu to fish for, and how to 
make for the Trout an Artificial Minnow- and Flies, 
with some Merriment. 

PlSCATOR. 

'\T7ELL met, Brother Peter! I heard you and a 
* * friend would lodge here to-night, and that hath 
made me to bring my friend to lodge here too. My 
friend is one that would fain be a Brother of the An- 
gle : he hath been an Angler but this day, and I have 
taught him how to catch a Chub by daping with a 
grasshopper ; and the Chub he caught was a lusty one 
of nineteen inches long. But pray, Brother Peter, who 
is your companion ? 

Peter. Brother Piscator, my friend is an honest 
Countryman, and his name is Coridon, and he is a 
downright witty companion, that met me here pur- 
posely to be pleasant and eat a Trout ; and I have not 
yet wetted my line since we met together : but I hope 
to fit him with a Trout for his breakfast, for I '11 be 
early up. 

PlSC. Nay, brother, you shall not stay so long: for, 
look you ! here is a Trout will fill six reasonable 
bellies. 



Chap. V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



123 







Come, Hostess, dress it presently, and get us what 
other meat the house will afford, and give us some of 
your best barley-wine, the good liquor that our honest 
forefathers did use to drink of; the drink which pre- 
served their health, and made them, live so long, and 
to do so many good deeds. 

Peter. O' my word, this Trout is perfect in season. 
Come, I thank you, and here is a hearty draught to 
you, and to all the Brothers of the Angle wheresoever 
they be, and to my young brother's good fortune to- 
morrow. I will furnish him with a rod, if you will 
furnish him with the rest of the tackling ; we will set 
him up and make him a fisher. And I will tell him 
one thing for his encouragement, that his fortune hath 
made him happy to be scholar to such a master ; a 
master that knows as much both of the nature and 
breeding of fish as any man : and can also tell him as 
well how to catch and cook them, from the Minnow to 
the Salmon, as any that I ever met withal. 

PiSC. Trust me, Brother Peter, I find my Scholar to 
be so suitable to my own humor, which is to be free, 



124 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

and pleasant, and civilly merry, that my resolution is 
to hide nothing that I know from him. Believe me, 
Scholar, this is my resolution ; and so here 's to you 
a hearty draught, and to all that love us, and the hon- 
est art of Angling. 

Ven. Trust me, good Master, you shall not sow 
your seed in barren ground ; for I hope to return you 
an increase answerable to your hopes : but, however, 
you shall find me obedient, and thankful, and service- 
able to my best ability. 

PiSC. 'T is enough, honest Scholar : come, let 's to 
supper. Come, my friend Coridon, this Trout looks 
lovely ; it was twenty-two inches when it was taken ; 
and the belly of it looked, some part of it as yellow as 
a marigold, and part of it as white as a lily ; and yet 
methinks it looks better in this good sauce. 

Coridon. Indeed, honest friend, it looks well, and 
tastes well : I thank you for it, and so doth my friend 
Peter, or else he is to blame. 

Pet. Yes, and so I do ; we all thank you, and 
when we have supped, I will get my friend Coridon to 
sing you a song for requital. 

COR. I will sing a song, if anybody will sing an- 
other ; else, to be plain with you, I will sing none : I 
am none of those that sing for meat, but for company : 
I say, "'Tis merry in hall, when men sing all." 

PiSC. I '11 promise you I '11 sing a song that was 
lately made, at my request, by Mr. William Basse, one 
that hath made the choice songs of the "Hunter in 
his career," and of "Tom of Bedlam," and many .oth- 
ers of note ; and this that I will sing is in praise of 
Andingr. 



Chak v.] the complete angler. 125 

Cor. And then mine shall be the praise of a coun- 
tryman's life. What will the rest sing of? 

Pet. I will promise you, I will sing another song in 
praise of Angling to-morrow night ; for we will not 
part till then ; but fish to-morrow, and sup together, 
and the next day every man leave fishing, and fall to 
his business. 

Ven. 'T is a match ; and I will provide you a song 
or a catch against then, too, which shall give some 
addition of mirth to the company ; for we will be civil, 
and as merry as beggars. 

PlSC. 'T is a match, my masters. Let 's even say 
grace, and turn to the fire, drink the other cup to wet 
our whistles, and so sing away all sad thoughts. 

Come on, my masters, who begins ? I think it is 
best to draw cuts, and avoid contention. 

Pet. It is a match. Look, the shortest cut falls to 
Coridon. 

COR. Well, then, I will begin, for I hate conten- 
tion. 

CORIDON'S SONG. 

" O the sweet contentment 
The countryman doth find ! 

Heigh trolollie lollie loe, 

Heigh trolollie lee, 
That quiet contemplation 
Possesseth all my mind : 

Then care away, 

And wend along with me. 

" For courts are full of flattery, 
As hath too oft been tried ; 

Heich trolollie lollie loe, etc. 



126 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

The city full of wantonness, 
And both are full of pride : 
Then care away, etc. 

"But oh ! the honest countryman 
Speaks truly from his heart, 

Heigh trolollie lollie loe, etc. 
His pride is in his tillage, 
His horses, and his cart : 
Then care away, etc. 

"Our clothing is good sheep-skins, 
Gray russet for our wives, 

Heigh trolollie lollie loe, etc. 
'T is warmth, and not gay clothing, 
That doth prolong our lives : 

Then cafe away, etc. 

"The ploughman, though he labor hard, 
Yet on the holiday, 

Heigh trolollie lollie loe, etc. 
No emperor so merrily 
Does pass his time away : 

Then care away, etc. 

"To recompense our tillage. 
The heavens afford us showers ; 

Heigh trolollie lollie loe, etc. 
And for our sweet refreshments 
The earth affords us bowers : 
Then care away, etc. 

" The cuckoo and the nightingale 
Full merrily do sing, 

Heigh trolollie lollie loe, etc. 
And with their pleasant roundelays 
Bid welcome to the spring : 

Then care away, etc. 



Chap. V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 1 27 

" This is not half the happiness 
The countryman enjoys ; 

Heigh trolollie lollie loe, etc. 
Though others think they have as much, 
Yet he that says so lies : 
Then come away, turn 
Countryman with me." 

Jo. Chalkhill. 

PlSC. Well sung ! Coridon, this song was sung 
with mettle ; and it was choicely fitted to the occasion : 
I shall love you for it as long as I know you. I would 
you were a Brother of the Angle, for a companion 
that is cheerful, and free from swearing and scurrilous V 
discourse, is worth gold. I love such mirth as does 
not make friends ashamed to look upon one another 
next morning ; nor men, that cannot well bear it, to 
repent the money they spend when they be warmed 
with drink. And take this for a rule, you may pick 
out such times and such companies, that you may 
make yourselves merrier for a little than a great deal 
of money ; for " 'T is the company and not the charge 
that makes the feast " : and such a companion you 
prove ; I thank you for it. 

But I will not compliment you out of the debt that 
1 owe you, and therefore I will begin my song, and 
wish it may be so well liked. 



THE ANGLER'S SONG. 

' As inward love breeds outward talk, 
The hound some praise, and some the hawk 



128 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

Some, better pleased with private sport, 
Use tennis, some a mistress court : 

But these delights I neither wish, 

Nor envy, while I freely fish. 

"Who hunts, doth oft in danger ride ; 
Who hawks, lures oft both far and wide ; 
Who uses games shall often prove 
A loser ; but who falls in love 

Is fettered in fond Cupid's snare : 
My angle breeds me no such care. 

" Of recreation there is none 
So free as Fishing is alone ; 
All other pastimes do no less 
Than mind and body both possess : 

My hand alone my work can do, 

So I can fish and study too. 

" I care not, I, to fish in seas ; 
Fresh rivers best my mind do please, 
Whose sweet calm course I contemplate, 
And seek in life to imitate : 

In civil bounds I fain would keep, 

And for my past offences weep. 

' ' And when the timorous Trout I wait 

To take, and he devours my bait, 

How poor a thing sometimes I find 

Will captivate a greedy mind ! 

And when none bite, I praise the wise, 
Whom vain allurements ne'er surprise. 

' ' But yet, though while I fish I fast, 
I make good fortune my repast ; 
And thereunto my friend invite, 
In whom I more than that delight : 



Chap. V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 1 29. 

Who is more welcome to my dish, 
Than to my angle was my fish. 

' ' As well content no prize to take, 

As use of taken prize to make : 

For so our Lord was pleased when 

He fishers made fishers of men : 

Where, which is in no other game, 
A man may fish and praise his name. 

" The first men that our Saviour dear 

Did choose to wait upon him here 

Blest fishers were, and fish the last 

Food was that he on earth did taste : 
I therefore strive to follow those 
Whom he to follow him hath chose." 

COR. Well sung, Brother ! you have paid your debt 
in good coin. We Anglers are all beholden to the 
good man that made this song. Come, Hostess, give 
us more ale, and let 's drink to him. 

And now let 's every one go to bed that we may rise 
early : but first let 's pay our reckoning, for I will have 
nothing to hinder me in the morning ; for my purpose 
is to prevent the sun rising. 

Pet. A match. Come, Coridon, you are to be my 
bedfellow : I know, Brother, you and your Scholar 
will lie together. But where shall we meet to-morrow 
night ? for my friend Coridon and I will go up the 
water towards Ware. 

PlSC. And my Scholar and I will go down towards 
Waltham. 

COR. Then let 's meet here, for here are fresh sheets 



130 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

that smell of lavender ; and I am sure we cannot ex- 
pect better meat or better usage in any place. 

Pet. 'T is a match. Good night to everybody ! 

PlSC. And so say I. 

Ven. And so say I. 

THE FOURTH DAY. 

PlSC. Good morrow, good Hostess ! I see my 
Brother Peter is still in bed : come, give my Scholar 
and me a morning drink, and a bit of meat to break- 
fast, and be sure to get a good dish of meat or two 
against supper, for we shall come home as hungry as 
hawks. Come, Scholar, let 's be going. 

Ven. Well now, good Master, as we walk towards 
the river give me direction, according to your promise, 
how I shall fish for a Trout. 

PlSC. My honest Scholar, I will take this very con- 
venient opportunity to do it. 

The Trout is usually caught with a worm or a min- 
now, which some call a Penk, or with a fly, viz. either 
a natural or an artificial fly : concerning which three I 
will give you some observations and directions. 

And, first, for worms : of these there be very many 
sorts ; some breed only in the earth, as the Earth- 
worm ; others of or amongst plants, as the Dug- 
worm ; and others breed either out of excrements, 
or in the bodies of living creatures, as in the horns 
of sheep or deer ; or some of dead flesh, as the maggot 
or gentle, and others. 

Now these be most of them particularly good for 



Chap. V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 131 

particular fishes : but for the Trout, the Dew-worm, 
which some also call the Lob-worm, and the Brand- 
ling, are the chief ; and especially the first for a great 
Trout, and the latter for a less. There be also of 
Lob-worms some called Squirrel-tails, a worm that has 
a red head, a streak down the back, and a broad tail, 
which are noted to be the best, because they are the 
toughest and most lively, and live longest in the 
water : for you are to know, that a dead worm is but 
a dead bait, and like to catch nothing, compared 
to a lively, quick, stirring worm. And for a Brand- 
ling, he is usually found in an old dunghill, or some 
very rotten place near to it : but most usually in cow- 
dung, or hog's dung, rather than horse-dung, which is 
somewhat too hot and dry for that worm. But the 
best of them are to be found in the bark of the tan- 
ners, which they cast up in heaps after they have used 
it about their leather. 

There are also divers other kinds of worms, which 
for color and shape alter even as the ground out of 
which they are got ; as the Marsh- worm, the Tag-tail, 
the Flag-worm, the Dock-worm, the Oak-worm, the 
Gilt-tail, the Twachel or Lob-worm, which of all others 
is the most excellent bait for a Salmon, and too many 
to name, even as many sorts as some think there be 
of several herbs or shrubs, or of several kinds of birds 
in the air : of which I shall say no more, but tell 
you, that what worms soever you fish with are the 
better for being well scoured, that is, long kept before 
they be used : and in case you have not been so 
provident, then the way to cleanse and scour them 



132 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

quickly is to put them all night in water, if they be 
Lob-worms, and then put them into your bag with fen- 
nel ; but you must not put your Brandlings above 
an hour in water, and then put them into fennel for 
sudden use ; but if you have time, and purpose to 
keep them long, then they be best preserved in an 
earthen pot with good store of moss, which is to be 
fresh every three or four days in summer, and every 
week or eight days in winter ; or at least the moss 
taken from them, and clean washed, and wrung be- 
twixt your hands till it be dry, and then put it to them 
again. And when your worms, especially the Brand- 
ling, begins to be sick and lose of his bigness, then 
you may recover him by putting a little milk or cream, 
about a spoonful in a day, into them by drops on the 
moss ; and if there be added to the cream an egg 
beaten and boiled in it, then it will both fatten and 
preserve them long. And note, that when the knot, 
which is near to the middle of the Brandling, begins 
to swell, then he is sick, and, if he be not well looked 
to, is near dying. And for moss you are to note, that 
there be divers kinds of it, which I could name to you, 
but will only tell you that that which is likest a buck's 
horn is the best, except it be soft white moss, which 
grows on some heaths, and is hard to be found. And 
note, that in a very dry time, when you are put to an 
extremity for worms, walnut-tree leaves squeezed into 
water, or salt in water, to make it bitter or salt, and 
then that water poured on the ground where you shall 
see worms are used to rise in the night, will make 
them to appear above ground presently. And you 



Chap. V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 133 

may take notice, some say that camphor put into your 
bag with your moss and worms gives them a strong 
and so tempting a smell, that the fish fare the worse 
and you the better for it. 

And now I shall show you how to bait your hook 
with a worm, so as shall prevent you from much 
trouble, and the loss of many a hook too, when you 
fish for a Trout with a running-line ; that is to say, 
when you fish for him by hand at the ground. I will 
direct you in this as plainly as I can, that you may not 
mistake. 

Suppose it be a big Lob-worm ; put your hook into 
him somewhat above the middle, and out again a little 
below the middle : having so done, draw your worm 
above the arming of your hook ; but note, that at the 
entering of your hook it must not be at the head- 
end of the worm, but at the tail-end of him, that the 
point of your hook may come out toward the head- 
end, and having drawn him above the arming of your 
hook, then put the point of your hook again into the 
very head of the worm, till it come near to the place 
where the point of the hook first came out : and then 
draw back that part of the worm that was above the 
shank or arming of your hook, and so fish with it. 
And if you mean to fish with two worms, then put the 
second on before you turn back the hook's head of 
the first worm. You cannot lose above two or three 
worms before you attain to what I direct you ; and 
having attained it, you will find it very useful, and 
thank me for it, for you will run on the ground with- 
out tamrlinsr. 



134 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

Now for the Minnow or Penk ; he is not easily 
found and caught till March, or in April, for then he 
appears first in the river ; Nature having taught him 
to shelter and hide himself in the winter in ditches 
that be near to the river, and there both to hide and 
keep himself warm in the mud or in the weeds, which 
rot not so soon as in a running river, in which place if 
he were in winter, the distempered floods that are 
usually in that season would suffer him to take no rest, 
but carry him headlong to mills and weirs, to his con- 
fusion. And of these Minnows, first you are to know, 
that the biggest size is not the best; and next, that 
the middle size and the whitest are the best : and then 
you are to know, that your Minnow must be so put on 
your hook, that it must turn round when 't is drawn 
against the stream, and that it may turn nimbly, you 
must put it on a big-sized hook as I shall now direct 
you, which is thus. Put your hook in at his mouth 
and out at his gill ; then, having drawn your hook two 
or three inches beyond or through his gill, put it again 
into his mouth, and the point and beard out at his 
tail ; and then tie the hook and his tail about very 
neatly with a white thread, which will make it the 
apter to turn quick in the water : that done, pull 
back that part of your line which was slack when 
you did put your hook into the Minnow the second 
time ; I say, pull that part of your line back so that 
it shall fasten the head so that the body of the Min- 
now shall be almost straight on your hook ; this done, 
try how it will turn by drawing it across the water or 
against a stream ; and if it do not turn nimbly, then 



Chap. V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 135 

turn the tail a little to the right or left hand, and try 
again, till it turn quick ; for if not, you are in danger 
to catch nothing ; for know, that it is impossible that 
it should turn too quick. And you are yet to know, 
that in case you want a Minnow, then a small Loach 
or a Stickle-bag, or any other small fish that will turn 
quick, will serve as well. And you are yet to know, 
that you may salt them, and by that means keep them 
JLready and fit for use three or four days, or longer ; 
' and that of salt, bay-salt is the best. 

And here let me tell you, what many old Anglers 
know right well, that at some times, and in some 
waters, a Minnow is not to be got, and therefore let me 
tell you, I have — which I will show to you — an arti- 
ficial Minnow, that will catch a Trout as well as an 
artificial fly ; and it was made by a handsome woman, 
that had a fine hand, and a live Minnow lying by her : 
the mould or body of the Minnow was cloth, and 
wrought upon or over it thus with a needle ; the back 
of it with very sad French green silk, and paler green 
silk towards the belly, shadowed as perfectly as you 
can imagine, just as you see a Minnow ; the belly was 
wrought also with a needle, and it was a part of it 
white silk, and another part of it with silver thread : 
the tail and fins were of a quill, which was shaven 
thin ; the eyes were of two little black beads, and the 
head was so shadowed, and all of it so curiously 
wrought, and so exactly dissembled, that it would 
beguile any sharp-sighted Trout in a swift stream. 
And this Minnow I will now show you ; look, here it 
is : and if you like it, lend it you, to have two or three 



I36 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

made by it, for they be easily carried about an Angler, 
and be of excellent use ; for note, that a large Trout 
will come as fiercely at a Minnow, as the highest 
mettled hawk doth seize on a partridge, or a grey- 
hound on a hare. I have been told, that one hundred 
and sixty Minnows have been found in a Trout's 
belly ; either the Trout had devoured so many, or the 
miller that gave it a friend of mine had forced them 
down his throat after he had taken him. 

Now for Flies, which is the third bait wherewith 
Trouts are usually taken. You are to know, that 
there are so many sorts of flies as there be of fruits : 
I will name you but some of them ; as the Dun-fly, 
the Stone-fly, the Red-fly, the Moor-fly, the Tawny-fly, 
the Shell-fly, the Cloudy or Blackish-fly, the Flag- 
fly, the Vine-fly : there be of flies, Caterpillars, and 
Canker-flies, and Bear-flies ; and indeed too many 
either for me to name or for you to remember : and 
their breeding is so various and wonderful, that I might 
easily amaze myself and tire you in a relation of them. 

And yet I will exercise your promised patience by 
saying a little of the Caterpillar, or the Palmer-fly or 
worm, that by them you may guess what a work it 
were in a discourse but to run over those very many 
flies, worms, and little living creatures with which the 
sun and summer adorn and beautify the river-banks 
and meadows, both for the recreation and contempla- 
tion of us Anglers : pleasures which, I think, myself 
enjoy more than any other man that is not of my 
profession. 

Pliny holds an opinion, that many have their birth 



Chap. V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 137 

or being from a dew, that in the spring falls upon the 
leaves of trees ; and that some kinds of them are 
from a dew left upon herbs or flowers ; and others 
from a dew left upon coleworts or cabbages ; all which 
kinds of dews being thickened and condensed, are by 
the sun's generative heat most of them hatched, and 
in three days made living creatures : and these of sev- 
eral shapes and colors ; some being hard and tough, 
some smooth and soft ; some are horned in their head, 
some in their tail, some have none : some have hair, 
some none : some have sixteen feet, some less, and 
some have none : but, as our Topsel hath, 

In his His- 

with ereat diligence, observed, those which tory of Ser- 
pents. 
have none move upon the earth, or upon 

broad leaves, their motion being not unlike to the 
waves of the sea. Some of them he also observes to 
be bred of the eggs of other caterpillars, and that 
those in their time turn to be butterflies ; and again, 
that their eggs turn the following year to be cater- 
pillars. And some affirm, that every plant has his 
particular fly or caterpillar, which it breeds and feeds. 
I have seen, and may therefore affirm it, a green cat- 
erpillar, or worm, as big as a small peascod, which 
had fourteen legs ; eight on the belly, four under the 
neck, and two near the tail. It was found on a hedge 
of privet ; and was taken thence, and put into a large 
box, and a little branch or two of privet put to it, on 
which I saw it feed as sharply as a dog gnaws a bone : 
it lived thus five or six days, and thrived, and changed 
the color two or three times ; but, by some neglect in 
the keeper of it, it then died and did not turn to a fly : 



138 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

but if it had lived, it had doubtless turned to one of 
those flies that some call Flies-of-prey, which those 
that walk by the rivers may, in summer, see fasten on 
smaller flies, and, I think, make them their food. 
And 't is observable, that, as there be these Flies-of- 
prey which be very large, so there be others, very little, 
created, I think, only to feed them, and breed out of I 
know not what ; whose life, they say, Nature intended 
not to exceed an hour ; and yet that life is thus made 
shorter by other flies, or accident. 

'T is endless to tell you what the curious search- 
ers into Nature's productions have observed of these 
worms and flies : but yet I shall tell you what Al- 
drovandus, our Topsel, and others, say of the Palmer- 
worm or Caterpillar : that whereas others content 
themselves to feed on particular herbs or leaves, — 
for most think those very leaves that gave them life 
and shape give them a particular feeding and nour- 
ishment, and that upon them they usually abide ; — 
yet he observes that this is called a Pilgrim or Palmer- 
worm, for his very wandering life and various food ; 
not contenting himself, as others do, with any one cer- 
tain place for his abode, nor any certain kind of herb 
or flower for his feeding ; but will boldly and disor- 
derly wander up and down, and not endure to be kept 
to a diet, or fixed to a particular place. 

Nay, the very colors of Caterpillars are, as one has 
observed, very elegant and beautiful. I shall, for a 
taste of the rest, describe one of them, which I will 
some time the next month show you feeding on a wil- 
low-tree, and you shall find him punctually to answer 



Chap. V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 139 

this very description : his lips and mouth somewhat 
yellow, his eyes black as jet, his forehead purple, his 
feet and hinder parts green, his tail two-forked and 
black ; the whole body stained with a kind of red 
spots which run along the neck and shoulder-blade, 
not unlike the form of Saint Andrew's cross, or the 
letter X, made thus crosswise, and a white line drawn 
down his back to his tail ; all which add much beauty 
to his whole body. And it is to me observable, that at a 
fixed age this Caterpillar gives over to eat, and towards 
winter comes to be covered over with a strange shell 
or crust, called an Aurelia : and so lives f> „ T . „. 

View Sir Fra. 

kind of dead life, without eating, all the Bacon Exper. 

728 and 729, 

winter. And, as others of several kinds in his Natu- 

• . ral History. 

turn to be several kinds of flies and vermin 

the spring following, so this caterpillar then turns to 

be a painted butterfly. 

Come, come, my Scholar, you see the river stops our 
morning walk, and I will also here stop my discourse : 
only, as we sit down under this honeysuckle hedge, 
whilst I look a line to fit the rod that our Brother Peter 
hath lent you, I shall, for a little confirmation of what 
I have said, repeat the observation of Du Bartas : — 

" God, not contented to each kind to give, 6- Day of 

. . . . , . Du Bartas. 

And to infuse the virtue generative, 

By his wise power made many creatures breed 

Of lifeless bodies, without Venus' deed. 

" So the cold humor breeds the Salamander ; 
Who, in effect, like to her birth's commander, 
With child with hundred winters, with her touch 
Quencheth the fire, though glowing ne'er so much. 



U40 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

"So in the fire, in burning furnace, springs 
The fly Perausta with the flaming wings : 
Without the fire it dies ; in it it joys ; 
Living in that which all things else destroys. 

"So, slow Bootes underneath him sees ViewGerh. 

Tii- ■ ^ i t i i -i r Herbal and 

In th icy islands goslings hatched ot trees ; Camden. 

Whose fruitful leaves, falling into the water, 

Are turned, 't is known, to living: fowls soon after. 



" So rotten planks of broken ships do change 
To barnacles. O transformation strange ! 
'T was first a green tree, then a broken hull. 
Lately a mushroom, now a flying gull. 

Ven. O my good Master ! this morning walk has 
been spent to my great pleasure and wonder : but I 
pray, when shall I have your direction how to make 
Artificial Flies, like to those that the Trout loves best ? 
and also how to use them ? 

PlSC. My honest Scholar, it is now past five of the 
clock ; we will fish till nine, and then go to breakfast. 
Go you to yonder sycamore-tree, and hide your bottle 
of drink under the hollow root of it ; for about that 
time, and in that place, we will make a brave break- 
fast with a piece of powdered beef, and a radish or 
two that I have in my fish-bag : we shall, I warrant 
you, make a good, honest, wholesome, hungry break- 
fast ; and I will then give you direction for the mak- 
ing and using of your flies : and in the mean time 
there is your rod and line ; and my advice is, that you 
fish as you see me do, and let 's try which can catch 
the first fish. 




.Tphn Ah Roltrn . 



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dz& <yy&%d< 



Chap. V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 141 

Ven. I thank you, Master, I will observe and prac- 
tise your direction, as far as I am able. 

PlSC. Look you, Scholar ; you see I have hold of a 
good fish : I now see it is a Trout. I pray put that 
net under him, and touch not my line, for if you do, 
then we break all. Well done, Scholar, I thank you. 

Now for another. Trust me I have another bite. 
Come, Scholar, come, lay down your rod, and help me 
to land this, as you did the other. So now we shall 
be sure to have a good dish of fish to supper. 

Ven. I am glad of that ; but I have no fortune : 
sure, Master, your 's is a better rod and better tack- 
ling. 

PlSC. Nay, then, take mine, and I will fish with 
yours. Look you, Scholar, I have another. Come, 
do as you did before. And now I have a bite at an- 
other. Oh me ! he has broke all ; there 's half a line 
and a good hook lost. 

VEN. Ay, and a good Trout too. 

PlSC. Nay, the Trout is not lost ; for pray take no- 
tice, no man can lose what he never had. 

Ven. Master, I can neither catch with the first nor 
second angle : I have no fortune. 

PlSC. Look you, Scholar, I have yet another. And 
now, having caught three brace of Trouts, I will tell 
you a short tale as we walk towards our breakfast. A 
scholar, a preacher I should say, that was to preach to 
procure the approbation of a parish, that he might be 
their lecturer, had got from his fellow-pupil the copy 
of a sermon that was first preached with great com- 
mendation by him that composed it: and though 



142 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

the borrower of it preached it word for word, as 
it was at first, yet it was utterly disliked as it was 
preached by the second to his congregation ; which 
the sermon-borrower complained of to the lender 
of it, and was thus answered : " I lent you indeed 
my fiddle, but not my fiddlestick ; for you are to 
know, that every one cannot make music with my 
words, which are fitted for my own mouth." And so, 
my Scholar, you are to know, that as the ill pronunci- 
ation or ill accenting of words in a sermon spoils it, 
so the ill carriage of your line, or not fishing even to a 
foot in a right place, makes you lose your labor ; 
and you are to know, that though you have my fiddle, 
that is, my very rod and tacklings with which you see 
I catch fish, yet you have not my fiddlestick : that is, 
you yet have not skill to know how to carry your hand 
and line, nor how to guide it to a right place : and 
this must be taught you, ■ — for you are to remember I 
told you Angling is an art, — either by practice, or a 
long observation, or both. But take this for a rule, 
when you fish for a Trout with a worm, let your line 
have so much, and not more lead than will fit the 
stream in which you fish ; that is to say, more in a 
great troublesome stream than in a smaller that is 
quieter: as near as may be, so much as will sink the 
bait to the bottom, and keep it still in motion, and not 
more. 

But now let 's say grace and fall to breakfast. What 
say you, Scholar, to the providence of an old Angler ? 
Does not this meat taste well ? and was not this place 
well chosen to eat it ? for this sycamore-tree will shade 
us from the sun's heat. 



Chap. V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 143 

Ven. All excellent good ; and my stomach excel- 
lent good too. . And now 1 remember, and find that 
true which devout Lessius says, " that poor men, and 
those that fast often, have much more pleasure in eat- 
ing than rich men and gluttons, that always feed 
before their stomachs are empty of their last meat, 
and call for more ; for by that means they rob them- 
selves of that pleasure that hunger brings to poor 
men." And I do seriously approve of that saying of 
yours, " that you had rather be a civil, well-governed 
well-grounded, temperate, poor Angler, than a drunken 
lord " : but I hope there is none such. However, I 
am certain of this, that I have been at many very 
costly dinners that have not afforded me half the 
content that this has done, for which I thank God 
and you. 

And now, good Master, proceed to your promised 
direction for making and ordering my Artificial Fly. 

PlSC. My honest Scholar, I will do it, for it is a 
debt due unto you by my promise. And because you 
shall not think yourself more engaged to me than 
indeed you really are, I will freely give you such di- 
rections as were lately given to me by an ingenious 
Brother of the Angle, an honest man, and a most 
excellent fly-fisher. 

You are to note, that there are twelve kinds of arti- 
ficial-made Flies to angle with upon the top of the 
water. Note by the way, that the fittest season of us- 
ing these is a blustering, windy day, when the waters 
are so troubled that the natural fly cannot be seen, or 
rest upon them. The first is the Dun-fly, in March : 



1.44 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

the body is made of dun wool, the wings of the par- 
tridge's feathers. The second is another Dun-fly : the 
body of black wool, and the wings made of the black 
drake's feathers, and of the feathers under his tail. 
The third is the Stone-fly, in April : the body is made 
of black wool, made yellow under the wings, and un- 
der the tail, and so made with wings of the drake. 
The fourth is the Ruddy-fly, in the beginning of May : 
the body made of red wool wrapt about "with black 
silk, and the feathers are the wings of the drake ; with 
the feathers of a red capon also, which hang dangling 
on his sides next to the tail. The fifth is the yellow or 
greenish fly, in May likewise : the body made of yel- 
low wool, and the wings made of the red cock's 
hackle or tail. The sixth is the Black-fly, in May 
also : the body made of black wool, and lapped about 
with the herle of a peacock's tail ; the wings are made 
of the wings of a brown capon with his blue feathers 
in his head. The seventh is the Sad-yellow-fly in 
June : the body is made of black wool, with a yellow 
list on either side, and the wings taken off the wings 
of a buzzard, bound with black braked hemp. The 
eighth is the Moorish-fly : made with the body of 
duskish wool, and the wings made of the blackish 
mail of the drake. The ninth is the Tawny-fly, good 
until the middle of June : the body made of tawny 
wool, the wings made contrary one against the other, 
made of the whitish mail of the wild-drake. The 
tenth is the Wasp-fly, in July: the body made of 
black wool, lapped about with yellow silk ; the wings 
made of the feathers of the drake, or of the buzzard. 



Chap. V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 145 

The eleventh is the Shell-fly, good in mid-July-: the 
body made of greenish wool, lapped about with the 
herle of a peacock's tail, and the wings made of the 
wings of the buzzard. The twelfth is the dark Drake- 
fly, good in August : the body made with black wool, 
lapped about with black silk ; his wings are made with 
the mail of the black-drake, with a black head. Thus 
have you a jury of flies likely to betray and condemn 
all the Trouts in the river. 

I shall next give you some other directions for fly- 
fishing, such as are given by Mr. Thomas Barker, a 
gentleman that hath spent much time in fishing ; but 
I shall do it with a little variation. 

First, let your rod be light, and very gentle : I take 
the best to be of two pieces. And let not your line ex- 
ceed, — especially for three or four links next to the 
hook, — I say, not exceed three or four hairs at the 
most, though you may fish a little stronger above in 
the upper part of your line ; but if you can attain 
to angle with one hair, you shall have more rises and 
catch more fish. Now you must be sure not to cum- 
ber yourself with too long a line, as most do. And 
before you begin to angle, cast to have the wind on 
your back, and the sun, if it shines, to be before you, 
and to fish down the stream ; and carry the point or 
top of your rod downward, by which means the shadow 
of yourself, and rod too, will be the least offensive to 
the fish ; for the sight of any shade amazes the fish, 
and spoils your sport, of which you must take a great 
care. 

In the middle of March, till which time a man 
7 J 



I46 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

should not in honesty catch a Trout ; or in April, if 
the weather be dark, or a little windy or cloudy, the 
best fishing is with the Palmer-worm, of which I last 
spoke to you ; but of these there be divers kinds, or 
at least of divers colors : these and the May-fly are the 
ground of all fly-angling, which are to be thus made. 

First, you must arm your hook with the line in the 
inside of it ; then take your scissors, and cut so much 
of a brown mallard's feather as in your own reason 
will make the wings of it, you having withal regard 
to the bigness or littleness of your hook : then lay the 
outmost part of your feather next to your hook, then 
the point of your feather next the shank of your hook ; 
and, having so done, whip it three or four times about 
the hook with the same silk with which your hook was 
armed ; and, having made the silk fast, take the 
hackle of a cock or capon's neck, or a plover's top, 
which is usually better : take off the one side of the 
feather, and then take the hackle, silk, or crewel, gold 
or silver thread, make these fast at the bent of the 
hook, that is to say, below your arming ; then you 
must take the hackle, the silver or gold thread, and 
work it up to the wings, shifting or still removing your 
finger as you turn the silk about the hook ; and still 
looking at every stop or turn, that your gold, or what 
materials soever you make your fly of, do lie right and 
neatly, and if you find they do so, then, when you have 
made the head, make all fast : and then work your 
hackle up to the head, and make that fast : and then, 
with a needle or pin, divide the wing into two ; and 
then with the arming silk whip it about cross-ways 



Chap. V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 147 

betwixt the wings ; and then with your thumb you 
must turn the point of the feather towards the bent 
of the hook ; and then work three or four times about 
the shank of the hook ; and then view the proportion, 
and if all be neat and to your liking, fasten. 

I confess, no direction can be given to make a man. 
of a dull capacity able to make a fly well : and yet I 
know this, with a little practice, will help an ingenious 
Angler in a good degree : but to see a fly made by an 
artist in that kind, is the best teaching to make it. 
And, then, an ingenious Angler may walk by the river 
and mark what flies fall on the water that day, and 
catch one of them, if he see the Trouts leap at a fly 
of that kind : and then having always hooks ready- 
hung with him, and having a bag also always with 
him, with bear's hair, or the hair of a brown or 
sad-colored heifer, hackles of a cock or a capon, 
several colored silk and crewel to make the body 
of the fly, the feathers of a drake's head, black or 
brown sheep's wool, or hog's wool, or hair, thread 
of gold and of silver, silk of several colors, especially 
sad-colored, to make the fly's head ; and there be also 
other colored feathers both of little birds and of spec- 
kled fowl : — I say, having those with him in a bag, 
and trying to make a fly, though he miss at first, yet 
shall he at last hit it better, even to such a perfection 
as none can well teach him. And if he hit to make 
his fly right, and have the luck to hit also where there 
is store of Trouts, a dark day, and a right wind, he 
will catch such store of them as will encourage him 
to grow more and more in love with the art of fly- 
makinsr. 



V 



148 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

Ven. But, my loving Master, if any wind will not 
serve, then I wish I were in Lapland, to buy a good 
wind of one of the honest witches, that sell so many 
winds there, and so cheap. 

PlSC. Marry, Scholar, but I would not be there, nor 
indeed from under this tree : for look how it begins to 
rain, and by the clouds, if I mistake not, we shall 
presently have a smoking shower : and therefore sit 
close ; this sycamore-tree will shelter us : and I will 
tell you, as they shall come into my mind, more obser- 
vations of Fly-fishing for a Trout. 

But first for the wind : you are to take notice, that 
of the winds the south wind is said to be best. One 
observes, that 

"when the wind is south, 
It blows your bait into a fish's mouth." 

Next to that, the west wind is believed to be the 
best : and having told you that the east wind is the 
worst, I need not tell you which wind is the best in 
the third degree : and yet, as Solomon observes, 
Eccles. xi. 4, that "he that considers the wind shall 
never sow " ; so he that busies his head too much 
about them, if the weather be not made extreme cold 
by an east wind, shall be a little superstitious : for as 
it is observed by some, that there is no good horse of-v^ 
a bad color, so I have observed that if it be a cloudy 
day, and not extreme cold, let the wind sit in what 
corner it will, and do its worst, I heed it not. And 
yet take this for a rule, that I would willingly fish 
standing on the lee-shore : and you are to take notice, 
that the fish lies or swims nearer the bottom, and in 



Chap. V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 149 

deeper water, in winter than in summer ; and also 
nearer the bottom in a cold day, and then gets nearest 
the lee-side of the water. 

But I promised to tell you more of the Fly-fishing 
for a Trout, which I may have time enough to do, for 
you see it rains May butter. First for a May-fly : you 
may make his body with greenish-colored crewel, or 
willowish color ; darkening it in most places with 
waxed silk, or ribbed with black hair, or some of them 
ribbed with silver thread ; and such wings, for the 
color, as you see the fly to have at that season, — nay, 
at that very day on the water. Or you may make the 
Oak-fly with an orange tawny and black ground, and 
the brown of a mallard's feather for the wings ; and 
you are to know, that these two are most excellent flies, 
that is, the May-fly and the Oak-fly. And let me again 
tell you, that you keep as far from the water as you 
can possibly, whether you fish with a fly or worm, 
and fish down the stream : and when you fish with 
a fly, if it be possible, let no part of your line touch 
the water, but your fly only ; and be still moving your 
fly upon the water, or casting it into the water, you 
yourself being also always moving down the stream. 

Mr. Barker commends several sorts of the Palmer- 
flies ; not only those ribbed with silver and gold, but 
others that have their bodies all made of black, or 
some with red, and a red hackle. You may also make 
the Hawthorn-fly, which is all black, and not big, but 
very small, the smaller the better : or the Oak-fly, the 
body of which is orange-color and black crewel, with 
a brown wing : or a fly made with a peacock's feather 



150 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part 1. 

is excellent in a bright day. You must be sure you 
want not in your magazine-bag the peacock's feather, 
and grounds of such wool and crewel as will make the 
Grasshopper ; and note, that usually the smallest flies 
are the best. And note also, that the light fly does 
usually make most sport in a dark day, and the dark- 
est and least fly in a bright or clear day : and lastly 
note, that you are to repair upon any occasion to your 
magazine-bag ; and upon any occasion vary, and 
make them lighter or sadder according to your fancy 
or the day. 

And now I shall tell you, that the fishing with a 
natural fly is excellent, and affords much pleasure. 
They may be found thus : the May-fly usually in and 
about that month near to the river-side, especially 
against rain : the Oak-fly on the but or body of an 
oak or ash, from the beginning of May to the end of 
August ; it is a brownish fly, and easy to be so found, 
and stands usually with his head downward, that is to 
say, towards the root of the tree : the small black fly, 
or Hawthorn-fly, is to be had on any hawthorn-bush 
after the leaves be come forth : with these and a short 
line, as I showed to angle for a Chub, you may dape 
or dop ; and also with a grasshopper behind a tree, or 
in any deep hole ; still making it to move on the top 
of the water, as if it were alive, and still keeping your- 
self out of sight, you shall certainly have sport if there 
be Trouts ; yea, in a hot day, but especially in the 
evening of a hot day, you will have sport. 

And now, Scholar, my direction for fly-fishing is 
ended with this shower, for it has done rainimj. And 



Chap. V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 151 

now look about you, and see how pleasantly that 
meadow looks ; nay, and the earth smells as sweetly 
too. Come, let me tell you what holy Mr. Herbert 
says of such days and flowers as these ; and then we 
will thank God that we enjoy them, and walk to the 
river, and sit down quietly, and try to catch the other 
brace of Trouts. 

"Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright, 
The bridal of the earth and sky, 
Sweet dews shall weep thy fall to-night, — 
For thou must die ! 

" Sweet rose, whose hue, angiy and brave, 
Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye, 
Thy root is ever in its grave, — 

And thou must die ! 

" Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses, 
A box where sweets compacted lie ; 
My music shows you have your closes, — 

And all must die ! 

" Only a sweet and virtuous soul, 
Like seasoned timber, never gives, 
But when the whole world turns to coal, — 

Then chiefly lives ! " 

Ven. I thank you, good Master, for your good di- 
rection for fly-fishing, and for the sweet enjoyment of 
the pleasant day, which is so far spent without offence 
to God or man : and I thank you for the sweet close 
of your discourse with Mr. Herbert's verses ; who, I 
have heard, loved Angling : and I do the rather be- 
lieve it, because he had a spirit suitable to Anglers, 



152 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

and to those primitive Christians that you love, and 
have so much commended. 

Pise. Well, my loving Scholar, and I am pleased to 
know that you are so well pleased with my direction 
and discourse. 

And since you like these verses of Mr. Herbert's so 
well, let me tell you what a reverend and learned di- 
vine that professes to imitate him, and has indeed 
done so most excellently, hath writ of our Book of 
Common Prayer : which I know you will like the bet- 
ter because he is a friend of mine, and I am sure no 
enemy to Angling. 

" What ? Prayer by the Book ? and Common ? Yes ; why not ? 
The spirit of grace 
And supplication 
Is not left free alone 
For time and place, 
But manner too : to read or speak by rote, 
Is all alike to him, that prays 
In 's heart what with his mouth he says. 

" They that in private by themselves alone 
Do pray, may take 
What liberty they please, 
In choosing of the ways 
Wherein to make 
Their soul's most intimate affections known 
To Him that sees in secret, when 
Th' are most concealed from other men. 

' ' But he that unto others leads the way 

In public prayer, 
Should do it so, 
As all that hear may know 

They need not fear 



Chap. V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 153 

To tune their hearts unto his tongue, and say, 
Amen ! not doubt they were betrayed 
To blaspheme, when they meant to have prayed. 

" Devotion will add life unto the letter, 
And why should not 
That which authority 
Prescribes esteemed be 
Advantage got ? 
If th' prayer be good, the commoner the better, 
Prayer in the Church's words, as well 
As sense, of all prayers bears the bell." 

Ch. Harvie. , 

And now, Scholar, I think it will be time to repair 
to our angle-rods, which we left in the water to fish 
for themselves ; and you shall choose which shall be 
yours ; and it is an even lay one of them catches. 

And let me tell you, this kind of fishing with a dead- 
rod, and laying night-hooks, are like putting money to 
use ; for they both work for the owners when they do 
nothing but sleep, or eat, or rejoice ; as you know we 
have done this last hour, and sat as quietly and as 
free from cares under this sycamore, as Virgil's Tity- 
rus and his Melibceus did under their broad beech- 
tree. No life, my honest Scholar, no life so happy 
and so pleasant as the life of a well-governed Angler ; 
for when the lawyer is swallowed up with business, 
and the statesman is preventing or contriving plots, 
then we sit on cowslip banks, hear the birds sing, and 
possess ourselves in as much quietness as these silent 
silver streams, which we now see glide so quietly by 
us. Indeed, my good Scholar, we may say of An- 



154 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

gling, as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries : " Doubtless 
God could have made a better berry, but doubtless 
God never did " : and so, if I might be judge, " God 
never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recrea- 
tion than Angling." 

I '11 tell you, Scholar, when I sat last on this prim- 
rose-bank, and looked down these meadows, I thought 
of them as Charles the Emperor did of the city of 
Florence, — "that they were too pleasant to be looked 
on, but only on holy-days " : as I then sat on this very 
grass, I turned my present thoughts into verse : 't was 
a Wish, which I '11 repeat to you. 

THE ANGLER'S WISH. 

I in these flowery meads would be ; 

These crystal streams should solace me ; 

To whose harmonious, bubbling noise 

I with my angle would rejoice : 
Sit here, and see the turtle-dove 
Court his chaste mate to acts of love : 

Or, on that bank, feel the west wind 
Breathe health and plenty ; please my mind 
To see sweet dew-drops kiss these flowers, 
And then washed off by April showers : 

Here, hear my Kenna sing * a song ; 

There, see a blackbird feed her young, 

Or a leverock build her nest ; 

Here, give my weary spirits rest, 

And raise my low-pitched thoughts above 

Earth, or what poor mortals love : 

Thus free from lawsuits, and the noise 
Of princes' courts, I would rejoice : 
* Like Hermit poor. 



Chap. V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 1 55 

Or, with my Bryan, and a book, 
Loiter long days near Shawford Brook ; 
There sit by him, and eat my meat, 
There see the sun both rise and set : 
There bid good morning to next day, 
There meditate my time away : 
And angle on, and beg to have 
A quiet passage to a welcome grave. 

When I had ended this composure, I left this place, 
and saw a Brother of the Angle sit under that honey- 
suckle hedge, one that will prove worth your acquaint- 
ance. I sat down by him, and presently we met with 
an accidental piece of merriment which I will relate 
to you ; for it rains still. 

On the other side of this very hedge sat a gang 
of Gypsies, and near to them sat a gang of beggars. 
The Gypsies were then to divide all the money that 
had been got that week, either by stealing linen or 
poultry, or by fortune-telling, or legerdemain, or, in- 
deed, by any other sleights and secrets belonging to 
their mysterious government. And the sum that was 
got that week proved to be but twenty and some odd 
shillings. The odd money was agreed to be dis- 
tributed amongst the poor of their own corporation : 
and for the remaining twenty shillings, that was to 
be divided unto four Gentlemen-gypsies, according to 
their several degrees in their commonwealth. 

And the first or chiefest Gypsy was by consent to 
have a third part of the twenty shillings, which all 
men know is 6s. 8d. 

The second was to have a fourth part of the 20s., 
which all men know to be 5s. 



156 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

The third was to have a fifth part of the 20s., which 
all men know to be 4s. 

The fourth and last Gypsy was to have a sixth part 
of the 20s., which all men know to be 3J. 4<aT. 

As, for example, 

3 times 6s. 8d. is 20s. 

And so is 4 times 5- 20s. 

And so is 5 times 4J. ....... 20s. 

And so is 6 times y. q.d. 20s. 

And yet he that divided the money was so very a 
Gypsy, that, though he gave to every one these said 
sums, yet he kept one shilling of it for himself. 



example, 


s. 


d. 




6 


8 




5 







4 







3 


4 


make but 


19 






But now you shall know, that when the four Gypsies 
saw that he had got one shilling by dividing the 
money, though not one of them knew any reason to 
demand more, yet, like lords and courtiers, every 
Gypsy envied him that was the gainer, and wrangled 
with him ; and every one said the remaining shilling 
belonged to him : and so they fell to so high a con- 
test about it, as none that knows the faithfulness of 
one Gypsy to another will easily believe ; only we that 
have lived these last twenty years are certain that 
money has been able to do much mischief. However, 
the Gypsies were too wise to go to law, and did there- 



Chap. V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 157 

fore choose their choice friends Rook and Shark, and 
our late English Gusman, to be their arbitrators and 
umpires. And so they left this honeysuckle hedge ; 
and went to tell fortunes, and cheat, and get more 
money and lodging in the next village. 

When these were gone, we heard as high a conten- 
tion amongst the beggars, whether it was easiest to 
rip a cloak, or to unrip a cloak ? One beggar affirmed 
it was all one : but that was denied, by asking her if 
doing and undoing were all one. Then another said, 
'twas easiest to unrip a cloak, for that was to let it 
alone : but she was answered by asking her how she 
unripped it, if she let it alone ? and she confessed her- 
self mistaken. These and twenty such like questions 
were proposed, and answered with as much beggarly 
logic and earnestness as was ever heard to proceed 
from the mouth of the most pertinacious schismatic ; 
and sometimes all the beggars, whose number was 
neither more nor less than the poets' nine Muses, 
talked all together about this ripping and unripping, 
and so loud that not one heard what the other said : 
but at last one Beggar craved audience, and told them, 
that old Father Clause, whom Ben Jonson in his Beg- 
gar's Bush created king of their corporation, was that 
night to lodge at an ale-house, called Catch-her-by- 
the-way, not far from Waltham Cross, and in the 
high-road towards London ; and he therefore desired 
them to spend no more time about that and such like 
questions, but to refer all to Father Clause at night, 
for he was an upright judge, and in the mean time 
draw cuts what song should be next sung, and who 



158 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

should sing it. They all agreed to the motion, and 
the lot fell to her that was the youngest, and veriest 
virgin of the company, and she sung Frank Davison's 
song, which hie made forty years ago ; and all the 
others of the company joined to sing the burden with 
her. The ditty was this, — but first the burden : — 

— "Bright shines the sun: play, beggars, play, 

Here 's scraps enough to serve to-day. 

" What noise of viols is so sweet 

As when our merry clappers ring? 
What mirth doth want when beggars meet ? 

A beggar's life is for a king. 
Eat, drink, and play ; sleep when we list, ' 
Go where we will, — so stocks be mist. 

Bright shines the sun : play, beggars, play, 
Here 's scraps enough to serve to-day. 

" The world is ours, and ours alone, 

For we alone have world at will ; 
We purchase not, all is our own, 

Both fields and streets we beggars fill : 
Nor care to get, nor fear to keep, 
Did ever break a beggar's sleep. 

Bright shines the sun : play, beggars, play, 

Here 's scraps enough to serve to-day. 

" A hundred herds of black and white 

Upon our gowns securely feed ; 
And yet if any dare us bite, 

He dies therefore as sure as creed. 
Thus beggars lord it as they please, 
And only beggars live at ease. 

Bright shines the sun : play, beggars, play, 

Here 's scraps enough to serve to-day." 



Chap. V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 1 59 

Ven. I thank you, good Master, for this piece of 
merriment, and this song, which was well humored by 
the maker, and well remembered by you. 

PlSC. But I pray forget not the catch which you 
promised to make against night ; for our countryman, 
honest Coridon, will expect your catch and my song, 
which I must be forced to patch up, for it is so long 
since I learned it that I have forgot a part of it. But 
come, now it hath done raining, let 's stretch our legs 
a little in a gentle walk to the river, and try what 
interest our angles will pay us for lending them so 
long to be used by the Trouts : lent them indeed, like 
usurers, for our profit and their destruction. 

VEN. O me ! look you Master, a fish, a fish ! O 
alas, Master, I have lost her ! 

PlSC. Ay marry, Sir, that was a good fish indeed : 
if I had had the luck to have taken up that rod, then 
't is twenty to one he should not have broke my line 
by running to the rod's end, as you suffered him. I 
would have held him within the bent of my rod, un- 
less he had been fellow to the great Trout that is near 
an ell long, which was of such a length and depth 
that he had his picture drawn, and is now to be seen 
at mine Host Rickabie's, at the George in Ware ; 
and it may be, by giving that very great Trout the 
rod, that is, by casting it to him into the water, I 
might have caught him at the long run ; for so I use 
always to do when I meet with an overgrown fish, 
and you will learn to do so too hereafter : for I tell 
you, Scholar, fishing is an art, or, at least, it is an art 
to catch fish. 



l6o THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

Ven. But, Master, I have heard that the great 
Trout you speak of is a Salmon. 

PlSC. Trust me, Scholar, I know not what to say to 
it. There are many country people that believe Hares 
change sexes every year ; and there be very many 
learned men think so too, for in their dissecting them 
they find many reasons to incline them to that belief. 
And to make the wonder seem yet less, ihat Hares 
change sexes, note that Doctor Mer. Casaubon af- 
firms, in his book "Of Credible and Incredible Things," 
that Gaspar Peucerus, a learned physician, tells us of 
a people that once a year turn wolves, partly in shape, 
and partly in conditions. And so, whether this were a 
Salmon when he came into the fresh water, and his 
not returning into the sea hath altered him to another 
color or kind, I am not able to say ; but I am certain 
he hath all the signs of being a Trout, both for his 
shape, color, and spots ; and yet many think he is 
not. 

Ven. But, Master, will this Trout which I had hold 
of die ? for it is like he hath the hook in his belly. 

PlSC. I will tell you, Scholar, that unless the hook 
be fast in his very gorge, 't is more than probable he 
will live ; and a little time, with the help of the water, 
will rust the hook, and it will in time wear away, as 
the gravel doth in the horse-hoof, which only leaves a 
false quarter. 

And now, Scholar, let 's go to my rod. Look you, 
Scholar, I have a fish too, but it proves a logger- 
headed Chub ; and this is not much amiss, for this will 
pleasure some poor body, as we go to our lodgings to 



Chap. V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. l6l 

meet our brother Peter and honest Condon. Come, 
now bait your hook again, and lay it into the water, 
for it rains again ; and we will even retire to the syca- 
more-tree, and there I will give you more directions 
concerning fishing, for I would fain make you an artist. 

Ven. Yes, good Master, I pray let it be so. 

PlSC. Well, Scholar, now we are sat down and are 
at ease, I shall tell you a little more of Trout-fishing, 
before I speak of the Salmon, which I purpose shall 
be next, and then of the Pike or Luce. 

You are to know, there is night as well as day fish- 
ing for a Trout, and that in the night the best Trouts 
come out of their holes ; and the manner of taking 
them is, on the top of the water with a great lob or 
garden-worm, or rather two, which you are to fish with 
in a place where the waters run somewhat quietly, for 
in a stream the bait will not be so well discerned. I 
say in a quiet or dead place near to some swift, there 
draw your bait over the top of the water, to and fro, 
and if there be a good Trout in the hole, he will take 
it, especially if the night be dark : for then he is bold 
and lies near the top of the water, watching the motion 
of any frog or water-rat or mouse that swims betwixt 
him and the sky ; these he hunts after, if he sees the 
water but wrinkle or move in one of these dead holes, 
where these great old Trouts usually lie near to their 
holds: for you are to note, that the great old Trout is 
both subtle and fearful, and lies close all day, and does 
not usually stir out of his hold, but lies in it as close in 
the day as the timorous Hare does in her form ; for 
the chief feeding of either is seldom in the day, but 



1 62 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

usually in the night, and then the great Trout feeds 
very boldly. 

And you must fish for him with a strong line, and 
not a little hook ; and let him have time to gorge your 
hook, for he does not usually forsake it, as he oft will 
in the day fishing. And if the night be not dark, then 
fish so with an artificial fly of a light color, and at the 
snap : nay, he will sometimes rise at a dead mouse, or 
a piece of cloth, or anything that seems to swim 
cross the water, or to be in motion. This is a choice 
way, but I have not oft used it, because it is void of 
the pleasures that such days as these, that we two now 
enjoy, afford an Angler. 

And you are to know, that in Hampshire, which I 
think exceeds all England for swift, shallow, clear, 
pleasant brooks, and store of Trouts, they use to catch 
Trouts in the night by the light of a torch or straw, 
which when they have discoverd, they strike with a 
trout-spear or other ways. This kind of way they 
catch very many ; but I would not believe it till I 
was an eyewitness of it, nor do I like it now I have 
seen it. 

Ven. But, Master, do not Trouts see us in the 
night ? 

PlSC. Yes, and hear and smell too, both then and 
in the day-time ; for Gesner observes, the Otter smells 
a fish forty furlongs off him in the water : and that it 
may be true seems to be affirmed by Sir Francis 
Bacon, in the Eighth Century of his Natural History, 
who there proves that waters may be the medium of 
sounds, by demonstrating it thus : " That if you knock 



Chap. V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 163 

two stones together very deep under the water, those 
that stand on a bank near to that place may hear the 
noise without any diminution of it by the water." He 
also offers the like experiment concerning the letting 
an anchor fall, by a very long cable or rope, on a rock 
or the sand within the sea. And this being so well 
observed and demonstrated, as it is by that learned 
man, has made me to believe that Eels unbed them- 
selves, and stir at the noise of thunder, and not only, 
as some think, by the motion or stirring of the earth 
which is occasioned by that thunder. 

And this reason of Sir Francis Bacon, Exper. 792, 
has made me crave pardon of one that I laughed at 
for affirming, that he knew Carps come to a certain 
place in a pond, to be fed, at the ringing of a bell or (/ 
the beating of a drum : and however, it shall be a rule 
for me to make as little noise as I can when I am fish- 
ing, until Sir Francis Bacon be confuted ; which I 
shall give any man leave to do. 

And, lest you may think him singular in this opin- 
ion, I will tell you, this seems to be believed by our 
learned Doctor Hakewill, who in his Apology of God's 
Power and Providence, fol. 360, quotes Pliny to report, 
that one of the Emperors had particular fish-ponds, 
and in them several fish, that appeared and came 
when they were called by their particular names. 
And St. James tells us, Chap. iii. 7, that all things in 
the sea have been tamed by mankind. And Pliny 
tells us, Lib. ix. 35, that Antonia, the wife of Drusus, 
had a Lamprey, at whose gills she hung jewels, or ear- 
rings : and that others have been so tender-hearted 



164 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

as to shed tears at the death of fishes which they have 
kept and loved. And these observations, which will 
to most hearers seem wonderful, seem to have a 
further confirmation from Martial, Lib. iv. Epigr. 30, 
who writes thus : — 

" Piscator, fuge, ne nocens," etc. 

" Angler, wouldst thou be guiltless ? then forbear, 
For these are sacred fishes that swim here, 
Who know their sovereign, and will lick his hand, 
Than which none 's greater in the world's command ; 
Nay, more, th' have names, and when they called are, 
Do to their several owners' call repair." 

All the further use that I shall make of this shall be, 
to advise Anglers to be patient, and forbear swearing, 
lest they be heard and catch no fish. 

And so I shall proceed next to tell you, it is certain, 
that certain fields near Leominster, a town in Here- 
fordshire, are observed to make the sheep that graze 
upon them more fat than the next, and also to bear 
finer wool ; that is to say, that that year in which they 
feed in such a particular pasture they shall yield finer 
wool than they did that year before they came to feed 
in it, and coarser again if they shall return to their 
former pasture ; and again return to a finer wool, 
being fed in the fine-wool ground.- Which I tell you, 
that you may the better believe that I am certain, if I 
catch a Trout in one meadow, he shall be white and 
faint, and very like to be lousy ; and as certainly, if 1 
catch a Trout in the next meadow, he shall be strong, 
and red, and lusty, and much better meat. Trust me, 
Scholar, I have caught many a Trout in a particular 



Chap. V.] 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



165 



meadow, that the very shape and the enamelled color 
of him hath been such as hath joyed me to look on 
him ; and I have then with much pleasure concluded 
with Solomon, " Everything is beautiful in his season." 
Eccles. iii. 1 1. 

I should by promise speak next of the Salmon ; but 
I will, by your favor, say a little of the Umber or 
Grayling ; which is so like a Trout for his shape and 
feeding, that I desire I may exercise your patience 
with a short discourse of him ; and then the next shall 
be of the Salmon. 



\, '...-,■ ' 







1 66 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 



THE FOURTH DAY. 

Chap. VI. — ■ Observations of the Umber w-Graylinc, and 
Directions how to fish for them. 

PlSCATOR. 

' I 'HE Umber and Grayling are thought by some 
to differ, as the Herring and Pilcher do. But 
though they may do so in other nations, I think those 
in England differ nothing but in their names. Aldro- 
vandus says, they be of a Trout kind ; and Gesner 
says that, in his country, which is Switzerland, he is 
accounted the choicest of all fish. And in Italy he is, 
in the month of May, so highly valued, that he is sold 
then at a much higher rate than any other fish. The 
French, which call the Chub Un Villain, call the 
Umber of the Lake Leman Un Umble Chevalier ; and 
they value the Umber or Grayling so highly, that they 
say he feeds on gold ; and say that many have been 
caught out of their famous river of Loire, out of whose 
bellies grains of gold have been often taken. And 
some think that he feeds on water-thyme, and smells 
of it at his first taking out of the water ; and they 
may think so with as good reason as we do that our 
Smelts smell like violets at their being first caught, 
which I think is a truth. Aldrovandus says, the Sal- 
mon, the Grayling, and Trout, and all fish that live in 
clear and sharp streams, are made by their mother 
Nature of such exact shape and pleasant colors, pur- 
posely to invite us to a joy and contentedness in 



Chap. VI.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 167 

feasting with her. Whether this is a truth or not, it is 
not my purpose to dispute ; but 't is certain, all that 
write of the Umber declare him to be very medicina- 
ble. And Gesner says, that the fat of an Umber or 
Grayling being set, with a little honey, a day or two in 
the sun, in a little glass, is very excellent against red- 
ness or swarthiness, or anything that breeds in the 
eyes. Salvian takes him to be called Umber from his 
swift swimming, or gliding out of sight more like a 
shadow or a ghost than a fish. Much more might be 
said both of his smell and taste : but I shall only tell 
you, that St. Ambrose, the glorious Bishop of Milan, 
who lived when the Church kept fasting-days, calls 
him the Flower-fish, or Flower of Fishes, and that he 
was so far in love with him, that he would not let him 
pass without the honor of a long discourse ; but I must ; 
and pass on to tell you how to take this dainty fish. 




First, note, that he grows not to the bigness of a 
Trout ; for the biggest of them do not usually exceed 
eighteen inches. He lives in such rivers as the Trout 
does, and is usually taken with the same baits as the 
Trout is, and after the same manner, for he will bite 
both at the minnow, or worm, or fly : though he bites 



1 68 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

not often at the minnow, and is very gamesome at the 
fly, and much simpler, and therefore bolder than a 
Trout ; for he will rise twenty times at a fly, if you 
miss him, and yet rise again. He has been taken with 
a fly made of the red feathers of a Parakita, a strange 
outlandish bird ; and he will rise at a fly not unlike a 
gnat or a small moth, or, indeed, at .most flies that are 
not too big. He is a fish that lurks close all winter, 
but is very pleasant and jolly after mid-April, and in 
May, and in the hot months : he is of a very fine 
shape; his flesh is white, his teeth — those little ones 
that he has — are in his throat, yet he has so tender a 
mouth that he is oftener lost after an Angler has 
hooked him than any other fish. Though there be 
many of these fishes in the delicate river Dove, and in 
Trent, and some other smaller rivers, as that which 
runs by Salisbury, yet he is not so general a fish as 
the Trout, nor to me so good to eat or to angle for. 
And so I shall take my leave of him, and now come to 
some observations of the Salmon, and how to catch him. 




t'WfV 



Chap. VII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 169 



THE FOURTH DAY. 

Chap. VII. — Obsei-vations of the Salmon, with Directions 
how to fish for him. 

PlSCATOR. 

' I "HE Salmon is accounted the King of fresh-water 
"*- fish, and is ever bred in rivers relating to the 
sea ; yet so high, or far from it, as admits of no tinct- 
ture of salt, or brackishness. He is said to breed or 
cast his spawn, in most rivers, in the month of Au- 
gust : some say that then they dig a hole or grave in 
a safe place in the gravel, and there place their eggs 
or spawn, after the melter has done his natural office, 
and then hide it most cunningly, and cover it over 
with gravel and stones ; and then leave it to their 
Creator's protection, who, by a gentle heat which He 
infuses into that cold element, makes it brood and 
beget life in the spawn, and to become Samlets early 
in the spring next following. 

The Salmons having spent their appointed time, 
and done this natural duty, in the fresh waters, they 
then haste to the sea before winter, both the melter 
and spawner : but if they be stopped by flood-gates 
or weirs, or lost in the fresh waters, then those so left 
behind by degrees grow sick, and lean, and unseason- 
able, and kipper ; that is to say, have bony gristles 
grow out of their lower chaps, not unlike a hawk's 
beak, which hinder their feeding ; and, in time, such 



170 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

fish so left behind pine away and die. 'T is observed 
that he may live thus one year from the sea ; but 
he then grows insipid, and tasteless, and loses both 
his blood and strength, and pines and dies the sec- 
ond year. And 'tis noted, that those little Salmons 
called Skeggers, which abound in many rivers re- 
lating to the sea, are bred by such sick Salmons 
that might not go to the sen, and that though they 
abound, yet they never thrive to any considerable big- 
ness. 

But if the old Salmon gets to the sea, then that 
gristle which shows him to be kipper wears away, 
or is cast off, as the eagle is said to cast his bill, 
and he recovers his strength, and comes next sum- 
mer to the same river, if it be possible, to enjoy the 
former pleasures that there possessed him : for, as 
one has wittily observed, he has, like some persons 
of honor and riches, which have both their winter 
and summer houses, the fresh rivers for summer, 
and the salt water for winter, to spend his life in ; 
which is not, as Sir Francis Bacon hath observed 
in his '" History of Life and Death," above ten years. 
And it is to be observed, that though the Salmon 
does grow big in the sea, yet he grows not fat but 
in fresh rivers ; and it is observed, that the farther 
they get from the sea, they be both the fatter and 
better. 

Next I shall tell you, that though they make very 
hard shift to get out of the fresh rivers into the sea, 
yet they will make harder shift to get out of the salt 
into the fresh rivers, to spawn, or possess the pleasures 



Chap. VII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 17 1 

that they have formerly found in them : to which end, 
they will force themselves through flood-gates, or over 
weirs, or hedges, or stops in the water, even to a 
height beyond common belief. Gesner speaks of 
such places- as are known to be above eight feet high 
above water. And our Camden mentions in his Bri- 
tannia the like wonder to be in Pembrokeshire, where 
the river Tivy falls into the sea ; and that the fall is 
so downright, and so high, that the people stand and 
wonder at the strength and sleight by which they see 
the Salmon use to get out of the sea into the said 
river : and the manner and height of the place is so 
notable, that it is known far by the name of the Sal- 
mon-Leap. Concerning which take this also out of 
Michael Drayton, my honest old friend, as he tells it 
you in his " Polyolbion." 

"And when the Salmon seeks a fresher stream to find, 
Which hither from the sea comes yearly by his kind ; 
As he towards season grows, and stems the wat'ry tract 
Where Tivy, falling down, makes an high cataract, 
Forced by the rising rocks that there her course oppose, 
As though within her bounds they meant her to enclose, — 
Here, when the laboring fish does at the foot arrive, 
And finds that by his strength he does but vainly strive ; 
His tail takes in his mouth, and, bending like a bow 
That 's to full compass drawn, aloft himself doth throw, 
Then springing at his height, as doth a little wand, 
That, bended end to end, and started from man's hand, 
Far off itself doth cast ; so does the Salmon vault : 
And if at first he fail, his second summersault 
He instantly essays ; and, from his nimble ring 
Still yerking, never leaves until himself he fling 
Above the opposing stream." 



172 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

This Michael Drayton tells you of this leap or sum- 
mersault of the Salmon. 

And, next, I shall tell you, that it is observed by 
Gesner and others, that there is no better Salmon than 
in England ; and that, though some of our northern 
counties have as fat and as large as the river Thames, 
yet none are of so excellent a taste. 

And as I have told you that Sir Francis Bacon ob- 
serves, the age of a Salmon exceeds not ten years, so 
let me next tell you, that his growth is very sudden : it 
is said, that, after he is got into the sea, he becomes, 
from a Samlet not so big as a Gudgeon, to be a Sal- 
mon, in as short a time as a gosling becomes to be a 
goose. Much of this has been observed, by tying a 
ribbon, or some known tape or thread, in the tail 
of some young Salmons, which have been taken in 
weirs as they have swimmed towards the salt water, 
and then by taking a part of them again, with the 
known mark, at the same place, at their return from 
the sea, which is usually about six months after ; and 
the like experiment hath been tried upon young swal- 
lows, who have, after six months absence, been ob- 
served to return to the same chimney, there to make 
their nests and habitations for the summer following : 
which has inclined many to think, that every Salmon 
usually returns to the same river in which it was bred, 
as young pigeons taken out of the same dove-cote 
have also been observed to do. 

And you are yet to observe further, that the he-Sal- 
mon is usually bigger than the Spawner ; and that he 
is more kipper, and less able to endure a winter in the 



Chap. VII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



17; 



fresh water, than she is : yet she is, at that time of 
looking less kipper and better, as watery, and as bad 
meat. 

And yet you are to observe, that as there is no gen- 
eral rule without an exception, so there are some few 
rivers in this nation that have Trouts and Salmons in 
season in winter ; as 't is certain there be in the river 
Wye in Monmouthshire, where they be in season, as 
Camden observes, from September till April. But, 
my Scholar, the observation of this and many other 
things, I must in manners omit, because they will 
prove too large for our narrow compass of time ; and 
therefore I shall next fall upon my direction how to 
fish for this Salmon. 



^ Jj^Su^ J^.. I _ 




And for that : first you shall observe, that usually 
he stays not long in a place, as Trouts will, but, as I 
said, covets still to go nearer the spring-head ; and 
that he does not as the Trout, and many other fish, lie 
near the water-side, or banks, or roots of trees, but 



174 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

swims in the deep and broad parts of the water, and 
usually in the middle, and near the ground, and that 
there you are to fish for him ; and that he is to be 
caught as the Trout is, with a worm, a minnow, which 
some call a Penk, or with a fly. 

And you are to observe, that he is very seldom ob- 
served to bite at a minnow, yet sometimes he will, and 
not usually at a fly, but more usually at a worm, and 
then most usually at a Lob or garden-worm, which 
should be well scoured, that is to say, kept seven or 
eight days in moss before you fish with them : and if 
you double your time of eight into sixteen, twenty, or 
more days, it is still the better ; for the worms will 
still be clearer, tougher, and more lively, and continue 
so longer upon your hook. And they may be kept 
longer by keeping them cool and in fresh moss ; and 
some advise to put camphire into it. 

Note also, that many use to fish for a Salmon with 
a ring of wire on the top of their rod, through which 
the line may run to as great a length as is need- 
ful when he is hooked. And to that end, some 
use a wheel about the middle of their rod, or near 
their hand, which is to be observed better by see- 
ing one of them, than by a large demonstration of 
words. 

And now I shall tell you that which may be called 
a secret. I have been a-fishing with old Oliver Hen- 
ley, now with God, a noted fisher both for Trout and 
Salmon, and have observed that he would usually 
take three or four worms out of his bag, and put them 
into a little box in his pocket, where he would usually 



Chap. VII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 175 

let them continue half an hour or more before he 
would bait his hook with them ; I have asked him 
his reason, and he has replied, " He did but pick the 
best out to be in readiness against he baited his hook 
the next time " : but he has been observed, both by 
others and myself, to catch more fish than I or any 
other body that has ever gone a-fishing with him could 
do, and especially Salmons. And I have been told 
lately, by one of his most intimate and secret friends, 
that the box in which he put those worms was 
anointed with a drop, or two or three, of the oil of 
ivy-berries, made by expression or infusion ; and told, 
that by the worms remaining in that box an hour, or a 
like time, they had incorporated a kind of smell that 
was irresistibly attractive, enough to force any fish 
within the smell of them to bite. This I heard not 
long since from a friend, but have not tried it ; yet I 
grant it probable, and refer my reader to Sir Francis 
Bacon's " Natural History," where he proves fishes 
may hear, and, doubtless, can more probably smell ; 
and I am certain Gesner says the Otter can smell in 
the water, and I know not but that fish may do so too. 
'T is left for a lover of angling, or any that desires to 
improve that art, to try this conclusion. 

I shall also impart two other experiments, but not 
tried by myself, which I will deliver in the same words 
that they were given me by an excellent angler and a 
very friend, in writing : he told me the latter was too 
good to be told, but in a learned language, lest it 
should be made common. 

"Take the stinking oil drawn out of Polypody of 



176 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

the oak by a retort, mixed with turpentine and hive- 
honey, and anoint your bait therewith, and it will 
doubtless draw the fish to it." 

The other is this : " Vulnera Hederae grandissimae 
inflicta sudant Balsamun oleo gelato, albicantique per- 
simile, odoris vero longe suavissimi." 

'T is supremely sweet to any fish, and yet assa- 
foetida may do the like. 

But in these things I have no great faith, yet 
grant it probable ; and have had from some chem- 
ical men, namely, from Sir George Hastings and 
others, an affirmation of them to be very advanta- 
geous : but no more of these, especially not in this 
place. 

I might here, before I take my leave of the Salmon, 
tell you, that there is more than one sort of them, as 
namely, a Tecon, and another called in some places a 
Samlet, or by some, a Skegger : but these and others, 
which I forbear to name, may be fish of another kind, 
and differ, as we know a Herring and a Pilcher do ; 
which, I think, are as different as the rivers in which 
they breed, and must by me be left to the disquisitions 
of men of more leisure, and of greater abilities than I 
profess myself to have. 

And lastly, I am to borrow so much of your prom- 
ised patience, as to tell you that the Trout or Salmon, 
being in season, have at their first taking out of the 
water, which continues during life, their bodies adorned, 
the one with such red spots, and the other with such 
black or blackish spots, as give them such an addition 
of natural beauty as, I think, was never given to any 



Chap. VII.] 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



177 



woman by the artificial paint or patches in which they 
so much pride themselves in this age. And so I shall 
leave them both, and proceed to some observations on 
the Pike. 




178 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 



THE FOURTH DAY. 

CHAP. VIII. — Observations of the Luce or Pike, with Di- 
rections how to fish for him. 

PlSCATOR. 

' I "HE mighty Luce or Pike is taken to be the Ty- 
-*- rant, as the Salmon is the King, of the fresh 
waters. 'T is not to be doubted but that they are 
bred, some by generation, and some not : as namely, 
of a weed called Pickerel-weed, unless learned Gesner 
be much mistaken ; for he says, this weed and other 
glutinous matter, with the help of the sun's heat in 
some particular months, and some ponds apted for it 
by nature, do become Pikes. But doubtless divers 
Pikes are bred after this manner, or are brought into 
some ponds some such other ways as are past man's 
finding out, of which we have daily testimonies. 

Sir Francis Bacon, in his " History of Life and 
Death," observes the Pike to be the longest-lived of 
any fresh-water fish, and yet he computes it to be not 
usually above forty years ; and others think it to be 
not above ten years : and yet Gesner mentions a Pike 
taken in Swedeland in the year 1449, with a ring about 
his neck, declaring he was put into that pond by Fred- 
erick the Second, more than two hundred years before 
he was last taken, as by the inscription in that ring, 
being Greek, was interpreted by the then Bishop of 
Worms. But of this no more, but that it is observed 



Chap. VIII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 179 

that the old or very great Pikes have in them more of 
state than goodness ; the smaller or middle-sized Pikes 
being by the most and choicest palates observed to be 
the best meat : and, contrary, the Eel is observed to 
be the better for age and bigness. 

All Pikes that live long prove chargeable to their 
keepers, because their life is maintained by the death 
of so many other fish, even those of their own kind ; 
which has made him by some writers to be called the 
Tyrant of the Rivers, or the Fresh-Water- Wolf, by 
reason of his bold, greedy, devouring disposition ; 
which is so keen, as Gesner relates, a man going to a 
pond, where it seems a Pike had devoured all the fish, 
to water his mule, had a Pike bit his mule by the lips ; 
to which the Pike hung so fast, that the mule drew 
him out of the water, and by that accident the owner 
of the mule angled out the Pike. And the same Ges- 
ner observes, that a maid in Poland had a Pike bit 
her by the foot as she was washing clothes in a pond. 
And I have heard the like of a woman in Killingworth 
Pond, not far from Coventry. But I have been as- 
sured by my friend Mr. Seagrave, of whom I spake to 
you formerly, that keeps tame Otters, that he hath 
known a Pike, in extreme hunger, fight with one of 
his Otters for a Carp that the Otter had caught, and 
was then bringing out of the water. I have told you 
who relate these things, and tell you they are persons 
of credit ; and shall conclude this observation by tell- 
ing you what a wise man has observed : " It is a hard 
thing to persuade the belly, because it has no ears." 

But if these relations be disbelieved, it is too evident 



l8o THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

to be doubted that a Pike will devour a fish of his own 
kind, that shall be bigger than his belly or throat will 
receive, and swallow a part of him, and let the other 
part remain in his mouth till the swallowed part be di- 
gested, and then swallow that other part that was in 
his mouth, and so put it over by degrees ; which is not 
unlike the ox, and some other beasts, taking their meat, 
not out of their mouth immediately into their-belly, but 
first into some place betwixt, and then chew it, or 
digest it by degrees after, which is called chewing the 
cud. And doubtless Pikes will bite when they are not 
hungry, but, as some think, even for very anger, when 
a tempting bait comes near to them. 

And it is observed that the Pike will eat venomous 
things, as some kind of frogs are, and yet live without 
being harmed by them ; for, as some say, he has in 
him a natural balsam, or antidote against all poison : 
and he has a strange heat, that, though it appear to us 
to be cold, can yet digest, or put over, any fish-flesh, 
by degrees, without being sick. And others observe, 
that he never eats the venomous frog till he have first 
killed her, and then — as ducks are observed to do 
to frogs in spawning-time, at which time some frogs 
are observed to be venomous — so thoroughly washed 
her, by tumbling her up and down in the water, that 
he may devour her without danger. And Gesner af- 
firms that a Polonian gentleman did faithfully assure 
him he had seen two young geese at one time in the 
belly of a Pike. And doubtless a Pike, in his height 
of hunger, will bite at and devour a dog that swims in 
a pond; and there have been examples of it, or the 



Chap. VIII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. l8l 

like ; for, as I told you, " The belly has no ears when 
hunger comes upon it." 

The Pike is also observed to be a solitary, melan- 
choly, and a bold fish : melancholy, because he always 
swims or rests himself alone, and never swims in 
shoals or with company, as Roach and Dace, and 
most other fish do : and bold, because he fears not a 
shadow, or to see or be seen of anybody, as the Trout 
and Chub and all other fish do. 

And it is observed by Gesner, that the jaw-bones 
and hearts and galls of Pikes are very medicinable 
for several diseases ; or to stop blood, to abate fevers, 
to cure agues, to oppose or expel the infection of the 
plague, and to be many ways medicinable and useful 
for the good of mankind : but he observes, that the 
biting of a Pike is venomous and hard to be cured. 

And it is observed, that the Pike is a fish that breeds 
but once a year, and that other fish, as namely Loaches, 
do breed oftener, as we are certain tame pigeons do 
almost every month ; and yet the hawk, a bird of prey, 
as the Pike is of fish, breeds but once in twelve 
months. And you are to note, that his time of breed- 
ing, or spawning, is usually about the end of February, 
or somewhat later, in March, as the weather proves 
colder or warmer, and to note that his manner of 
breeding is thus : a he and a she Pike will usually go 
together out of a river into some ditch or creek, and 
that there the spawner casts her eggs, and the melter 
hovers over her all that time that she is casting her 
spawn, but touches her not. 

I might say more of this, but it might be thought 



182 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

curiosity or worse, and shall therefore forbear it, and 
take up so much of your attention as to tell you that 
the best of Pikes are noted to be in rivers ; next, those 
in great ponds, or meres ; and the worst, in small 
ponds. 

But before I proceed further, I am to tell you that 
there is a great antipathy betwixt the Pike and some 
frogs : and this may appear to the reader of Dubra- 
vius, a Bishop in Bohemia, who, in his book " Of Fish 
and Fish-Ponds," relates what he says he saw with his 
own eyes, and could not forbear to tell the reader. 
Which was : — 

" As he and the Bishop Thurzo were walking by a 
large pond in Bohemia, they saw a Frog, when the 
Pike lay very sleepily and quiet by the shore-side, leap 
upon his head ; and the Frog having expressed malice 
or anger by his swollen cheeks and staring eyes, did 
stretch out his legs and embraced the Pike's head, and 
presently reached them to his eyes, tearing with them 
and his teeth those tender parts : the Pike, moved 
with anguish, moves up and down the water, and rubs 
himself against weeds, and whatever he thought might 
quit him of his enemy : but all in vain, for the Frog 
did continue to ride triumphantly, and to bite and tor- 
ment the Pike, till his strength failed : and then the 
Frog sunk with the Pike to the bottom of the water : 
then presently the Frog appeared again at the top and 
croaked, and seemed to rejoice like a conqueror, after 
which he presently retired to his secret hole. The 
Bishop, that had beheld the battle, called his fisher- 
man to fetch his nets, and by all means to get the 



Chap. VIII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 183 

Pike, that they might declare what had happened : 
and the Pike was drawn forth, and both his eyes 
eaten out ; at which when they began to wonder, 
the fisherman wished them to forbear, and assured 
them he was certain that Pikes were often so served." 

I told this, which is to be read in the sixth chapter 
of the first book of Dubravius, unto a friend, who 
replied, "It was as improbable as to have the mouse 
scratch out the cat's eyes." But he did not consider 
that there be Fishing-Frogs, which the Dalmatians 
call the Water-Devil, of which I might tell you as won- 
derful a story : but I shall tell you, that 't is not to be 
doubted but that there be some Frogs so fearful of 
the Water-Snake, that, when they swim in a place in 
which they fear to meet with him, they then get a reed 
across into their mouths, which, if they two meet by 
accident, secures the Frog from the strength and mal- 
ice of the snake ; and note, that the Frog usually 
swims the fastest of the two. 

And let me tell you, that as there be Water and 
Land Frogs, so there be Land and Water Snakes. 
Concerning which, take this observation, that the 
Land-Snake breeds and hatches her eggs, which be- 
come young snakes, in some old dunghill, or a like 
hot place : but the Water-Snake, which is not venom- 
ous, and, as I have been assured by a great observer 
of such secrets, does not hatch, but breed her young 
alive ; which she does not then forsake, but bides 
with them, and in case of danger will take them all 
into her mouth, and swim away from any apprehended 
danger, and then let them out again when she thinks 



184 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



[Part I. 



all danger to be past : these be accidents that we an- 
glers sometimes see, and often talk of. 

But whither am I going? I had almost lost my- 
self by remembering the discourse of Dubravius. I 
will therefore stop here, and tell you according to my 
promise how to catch this PlKE. 



.£> 




His feeding is usually of fish or frogs, and some- 
times a weed of his own called Pickerel-weed. Of 
which I told you some think some Pikes are bred ; for 
they have observed, that where none have been put 
into ponds, yet they have there found many ; and that 
there has been plenty of that weed in those ponds, 
and that that weed both breeds and feeds them ; 
but whether those Pikes so bred will ever breed by 
generation as the others do, I shall leave to the dis- 
quisitions of men of more curiosity and leisure than 
I profess myself to have ; and shall proceed to tell 
you that you may fish for a Pike, either with a 
ledger or a walking bait. And you are to note, that 
I call that a ledger-bait which is fixed or made to 
rest in one certain place when you shall be absent 
from it ; and I call that a walking-bait which you 



Chap. VIII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 185 

take with you, and have ever in motion. Concerning 
which two, I shall give you this direction ; that your 
Ledger-bait is best to be a living bait, though a dead 
one may catch, whether it be a fish or a frog ; and 
that you may make them live the longer, you may, or 
indeed you must, take this course. 

First, for your live-bait. Of fish, a Roach or Dace 
is, I think, best and most tempting, and a Perch is 
the longest lived on a hook, and having cut off his fin 
on his back, which may be done without hurting him, 
you must take your knife, which cannot be too sharp, 
and betwixt the head and the fin on the back, cut or 
make an incision, or such a scar, as you may put the 
arming wire of your hook into it, with as little bruis- 
ing or hurting the fish as art and diligence will enable 
you to do ; and so carrying your arming- wire along his 
back, unto or near the tail of your fish, betwixt the 
skin and the body of it, draw out that wire or arming 
of your hook at another scar near to his tail : then tie 
him about it with thread, but no harder than of ne- 
cessity to prevent hurting the fish. And the better to 
avoid hurting the fish, some have a kind of probe to 
open the way, for the more easy entrance and passage 
of your wire or arming ; but as for these, time, and a 
little experience, will teach you better than I can by 
words ; therefore I will for the present say no more of 
this, but come next to give you some directions how to 
bait your hook with a Frog. 

Ven. But, good Master, did you not say even now, 
that some Frogs were venomous, and is it not danger- 
ous to touch them ? 



1 86 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

PlSC. Yes, but I will give you some rules or cau- 
tions concerning them : and first, you are to note, that 
there are two kinds of Frogs ; that is to say, if I may 
so express myself, a Flesh and a Fish Frog. By Flesh- 
frogs, I mean frogs that breed and live on the land ; 
and of these there be several sorts also, and of several 
colors, some being speckled, some greenish, some 
blackish or brown: the Green-frog, which- is a small 
one, is by Topsell taken to be venomous ; and so is 
the Padock or Frog-padock, which usually keeps or 
breeds on the land, and is very large, and bony, and 
big, especially the she-frog of that kind ; yet these 
will sometimes come into the water, but it is not often : 
and the Land-frogs are some of them observed by 
him to breed by laying eggs ; and others to breed of 
the slime and dust of the earth, and that in winter they 
turn to slime again, and that the next summer that 
very slime returns to be a living creature ; 

* In his igth 

Book, De this is the opinion of Pliny. And * Car- 
Subtil, ex. . 

danus undertakes to give a reason tor the 

raining of frogs : but if it were in my power, it should 

rain none but Water-frogs, for those, I think, are not 

venomous, especially the right Water-frog, which, 

about February or March, breeds in ditches by slime, 

and blackish eggs in that slime : about which time of 

breeding, the he and she frogs are observed to use 

divers summersaults, and to croak and make a noise, 

which the Land-frog or Padock-frog never does. 

Now of these Water-frogs, if you intend to fish with 

a frog for a Pike, you are to choose the yellowest that 

you can get, for that the Pike ever likes best. And 

thus use your frog, that he may continue long alive. 



Chap. VIII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 1 87 

Put your hook into his mouth, which you may easily 
do from the middle of April till August ; and then the 
frog's mouth grows up, and he continues so for at least 
six months without eating, but is sustained, none but 
He whose Name is Wonderful knows how : I say, 
put your hook, I mean the arming-wire, through his 
mouth, and out at his gills, and then with a fine needle 
and silk sew the upper part of his leg with only one 
stitch to the arming-wire of your hook, or tie the 
frog's leg above the upper joint to the armed wire : 
and in so doing, use him as though you loved him, 
that is, harm him as little as you may possibly, that he 
may live the longer. 

And now, having given you this direction for the 
baiting your Ledger-hook with a live fish or frog, my 
next must be to tell you how your hook thus baited 
must or may be used : and it is thus. Having fas- 
tened your hook to a line, which, if it be not fourteen 
yai'ds long, should not be less than twelve, you are to 
fasten that line to any bough near to a hole where a 
Pike is, or is likely to lie, or to have a haunt ; and 
then wind your line on any forked stick, all your line, 
except half a yard of it, or rather more ; and split 
that forked stick with such a nick or notch at one end 
of it as may keep the line from any more of it ravel- 
ling from about the stick than so much of it as you 
intend. And choose your forked stick to be of that 
bigness as may keep the fish or frog from pulling the 
forked stick under the water till the Pike bites, and 
then the Pike having pulled the line forth of the cleft 
or nick of that stick in which it was gently fastened, 



1 65 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

he will have line enough to go to his hold and pouch 
the bait. And if you would have this Ledger-bait to 
keep at a fixed place, undisturbed by wind or other 
accidents, which may drive it to the shore-side, — for 
you are to note, that it is likeliest to catch a Pike in 
the midst of the water, — then hang a small plummet 
of lead, a stone, or piece of tile, or a turf, in a string, 
and cast it into the water, with the forked stick, to 
hang upon the ground, to be a kind of anchor to keep 
the forked stick from moving out of your intended 
place till the Pike come. This I take to be a very 
good way to use so many Ledger-baits as you intend 
to make trial of. 

Or if you bait your hooks thus with live fish or 
frogs, and in a windy day, fasten them thus to a bough 
or bundle of straw, and by the help of that wind can 
get them to move across a pond or mere, you are like 
to stand still on the shore and see sport presently if 
there be any store of Pikes : or these live-baits may 
make sport, being tied about the body or wings of a 
goose or duck, and she chased over a pond. And the 
like may be done with turning three or four live-baits, 
thus fastened to bladders, or boughs, or bottles of hay 
or flags, to swim down a river, whilst you walk quietly 
alone on the shore, and are still in expectation of 
sport. The rest must be taught you by practice, for 
time will not allow me to say more of this kind of fish- 
ing with live-baits. 

And for your dead-bait for a Pike, for that you may 
be taught by one day's going a-fishing with me, or any 
other body that fishes for him ; for the baiting your 



Chap. VIII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 1 89 

hook with a dead Gudgeon or a Roach, and moving it 
up and down the water, is too easy a thing to take up 
any time to direct you to do it : and yet, because I 
cut you short in that, I will commute for it by telling 
you that that was told me for a secret. It is this. 

Dissolve gum of ivy in oil of spike, and therewith 
anoint your dead-bait for a Pike ; and then cast it 
into a likely place, and when it has lain a short time at 
the bottom, draw it towards the top of the water, and 
so up the stream : and it is more than likely that you 
have a Pike follow with more than common eagerness. 

And some affirm, that any bait anointed with the 
marrow of the thigh-bone of an Hern is a great 
temptation to any fish. 

These have not been tried by me, but told me by a 
friend of note, that pretended to do me a courtesy. 
But if this direction to catch a Pike thus do you no 
good, yet I am certain this direction how to roast him 
when he is caught is choicely good, for I have tried it ; 
and it is somewhat the better for not being common : 
but with my direction you must take this caution, that 
your Pike must not be a small one, that is, it must be 
more than half a yard, and should be bigger. 

First, open your Pike at the gills, and, if need be, 
cut also a little slit towards the belly. Out of these 
take his guts ; and keep his liver, which you are to 
shred very small with thyme, sweet marjoram, and a 
little winter-savory ; to these put some pickled oysters, 
and some anchovies, two or three ; both these last 
whole, for the anchovies will melt, and the oysters 
should not ; to these you must add also a pound of 



190 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

sweet butter, which you are to mix with the herbs that 
are shred, and let them all be well salted. If the Pike 
be more than a yard long, then you may put into 
these herbs more than a pound, or if he be less, then 
less butter will suffice. These being thus mixed, with 
a blade or two of mace, must be put into the Pike's 
belly, and then his belly so sewed up as to keep all 
the butter in his belly if it be possible ; if not, then as 
much of it as you possibly can : but take not off the 
scales. Then you are to thrust the spit through his 
mouth, out at his tail ; and then take four, or five, or 
six split sticks, or very thin laths, and a convenient 
quantity of tape or filleting ; these laths are to be tied 
round about the Pike's body from his head to his tail, 
and the tape tied somewhat thick to prevent his break- 
ing or falling off from the spit. Let him be roasted 
very leisurely, and often basted with claret-wine, and 
anchovies, and butter, mixed together ; and also with 
what moisture falls from him into the pan. When 
you have roasted him sufficiently, you are to hold un- 
der him, when you unwind or cut the tape that ties 
him, such a dish as ^you purpose to eat him out of; 
and let him fall into it with the sauce that is roasted 
in his belly ; and by this means the Pike will be kept 
unbroken and complete. Then, to the sauce which 
was within, and also that sauce in the pan, you are to 
add a fit quantity of the best butter, and to squeeze 
the juice of'three or four oranges : lastly, you may 
either put into the Pike, with the oysters, two cloves 
of garlic, and take it whole out, when the Pike is cut 
off the spit ; or to give the sauce a haut-gout, let the 



Chap. VIII. j THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



191 



dish into which you let the Pike fall be rubbed with 
it. The using or not using of this garlic is left to 
your discretion. M. B. 

This dish of meat is too good for any but anglers, 
or very honest men ; and I trust you will prove both, 
and therefore I have trusted you with this secret. 

Let me next tell you, that Gesner tells us there are 
no Pikes in Spain, and that the largest are in the Lake 
Thrasymene in Italy; and the next, if not equal to 
them, are the Pikes of England ; and that in England, 
Lincolnshire boasted to have the biggest. Just so 
doth Sussex boast of four sorts of fish ; namely, an 
Arundel Mullet, a Chichester Lobster, a Shelsey Coc- 
kle, and an Amerly Trout. 

But I will take up no more of your time with this 
relation, but proceed to give you some observations of 
the Carp, and how to angle for him, and to dress him : 
— but not till he is caught. 




192 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 



THE FOURTH DAY. 

Chap. IX. — Observations of the Carp, with Directions how 
to fish for him. 

PlSCATOR. 

r I ^HE Carp is the Queen of Rivers : a stately, a 
-*- good, and a very subtle fish, that was not at first 
bred, nor hath been long, in England, but is now 
naturalized. It is said, they were brought hither by 
one Mr. Mascal, a gentleman that then lived at Plum- 
sted in Sussex, a county that abounds more with this 
fish than any in this nation. 

You may remember that I told you, Gesner says 
there are no Pikes in Spain ; and, doubtless, there was 
a time, about a hundred or a few more years ago, 
when there were no Carps in England, as may seem 
to be affirmed by Sir Richard Baker, in whose Chron- 
icle you may find these verses : — 

" Hops and Turkeys, Carps and Beer, 
Came into England all in a year. " 

And doubtless, as of sea- fish the Herring dies soon- 
est out of the water, and of fresh-water fish the Trout, 
so, except the Eel, the Carp endures most hardness, 
and lives longest out of his own proper element : and 
therefore the report of the Carp's being brought out 
of a foreign country into this nation is the more 
probable. 

Carps and Loaches are observed to breed several 
months in one year, which Pikes and most other fish 



Chap. IX] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 193 

do not. And this is partly proved by tame and wild 
rabbits, as also by some ducks, which will lay eggs 
nine of the twelve months ; and yet there be other 
ducks that lay not longer than about one month. 
And it is the rather to be believed, because you shall 
scarce or never take a male Carp without a melt, or a 
female without a roe or spawn, and for the most part 
very much ; and especially all the summer season : 
and it is observed, that they breed more naturally in 
ponds than in running waters, if they breed there at 
all; and that those that live in rivers are taken by 
men of the best palates to be much the better meat. 

And it is observed, that in some ponds Carps will 
not breed, especially in cold ponds ; but where they 
will breed, they breed innumerably : Aristotle and 
Pliny say, six times in a year, if there be no Pikes nor 
Perch to devour their spawn when it is cast upon 
grass, or flags, or weeds, where it lies ten or twelve 
days before it be enlivened. 

The Carp, if he have water-room and good feed, 
will grow to a very great bigness and length ; I have 
heard, to be much above a yard long. ; T is said by 
Jovius, who hath writ of fishes, that in the Lake Luri- 
an, in Italy, Carps have thriven to be more than fifty 
pounds' weight ; which is the more probable, for as the 
bear is conceived and born suddenly, and being born 
is but short lived, so, on the contrary, the elephant is 
said to be two years in his dam's belly, some think he 
is ten years in it, and being born grows in bigness 
twenty years ; and 't is observed too that he lives to 
the age of a hundred years. And 't is also observed, 

9 M 



194 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

that the crocodile is very long-lived, and more than 
that, that all that long life he thrives in bigness : and 
so I think some Carps do, especially in some places ; 
though I never saw one above twenty-three inches, 
which was a great and goodly fish ; but have been as- 
sured there are of a far greater size, and in England too. 
Now, as the increase of Carps is wonderful for their 
number, so there is not a reason found out, I think, by 
any, why they should breed in some ponds and not in 
others of the same nature for soil and all other cir- 
cumstances. And as their breeding, so are their de- 
cays also very mysterious : I have both read it, and 
been told by a gentleman of tried honesty, that he has 
known sixty or more large Carps put into several 
ponds near to a house, where by reason of the stakes 
in the ponds, and the owner's constant being near to 
them, it was impossible they should be stolen away 
from him : and that when he has, after three or four 
years, emptied the pond, and expected an increase from 
them by breeding young ones, — for that they might 
do so, he had, as the rule is, put in three melters for 
one spawner, — he has, I say, after three or four years, 
found neither a young nor old Carp remaining. And 
the like I have known of one that has almost watched 
the pond, and at a like distance of time, at the fishing 
of a pond, found of seventy or eighty large Carps not 
above five or six : and that he had forborne longer to 
fish the said pond, but that he saw, in a hot day in 
summer, a large Carp swim near the top of the water 
with a frog upon his head; and that he upon that 
occasion caused his pond to be let dry : and I say, of 



Chap. IX.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 195 

seventy or eighty Carps, only found five or six in the 
said pond, and those very sick and lean, and with 
every one a frog sticking so fast on the head of the 
said Carps, that the frog would not be got off without 
extreme force or killing. And the gentleman that did 
affirm this to me told me he saw it ; and did declare 
his belief to be, and I also believe the same, that he 
thought the other Carps that were so strangely lost 
were so killed by frogs, and then devoured. 

And a person of honor now living in Worcester- 
shire* assured me he had seen a necklace 

* Mr. Fr. Ru. 

or collar of tadpoles hang like a chain or 
necklace of beads about a Pike's neck, and to kill 
him : whether it were for meat or malice must be to 
me a question. 

But I am fallen into this discourse by accident ; of 
which I might say more, but it has proved longer than 
I intended, and possibly may not to you be considera- 
ble : I shall therefore give you three or four more 
short observations of the Carp, and then fall upon 
some directions how you shall fish for him. 

The age of Carps is by Sir Francis Bacon, in his 
"History of Life and Death," observed to be but ten 
years, yet others think they live longer. Gesner says, 
a Carp has been known to live in the Palatinate above 
a hundred years : but most conclude, that, contrary to 
the Pike or Luce, all Carps are the better for age and 
bigness. The tongues of Carps are noted to be choice 
and costly meat, especially to them that buy them : 
but Gesner says, Carps have no tongue like other fish, 
but a piece of flesh-like fish in their mouth like to a 



196 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

tongue, and should be called a palate : but it is cer- 
tain it is choicely good, and that the Carp is to be 
reckoned amongst those leather-mouthed fish which 
I told you have their teeth in their throat ; and for 
that reason he is very seldom lost by breaking his 
hold, if your hook be once stuck into his chaps. 

I told you that Sir Francis Bacon thinks that the 
Carp lives but ten years ; but Janus Dabravius has 
writ a book " Of Fish and Fish-Ponds," in which he 
says that Carps begin to spawn at the age of three 
years, and continue to do ~so till thirty: he says also, 
that in the time of their breeding, which is in summer, 
when the sun hath warmed both the earth and water, 
and so apted them also for generation, that then three 
or four male Carps will follow a female ; and that then, 
she putting on a seeming coyness, they force her 
through weeds and flags, where she lets fall her eggs 
or spav/n, which sticks fast to the weeds, and then 
they let fall their melt upon it, and so it becomes in a 
short time to be a living fish : and, as I told you, it is 
thought the Carp does this several months in the 
year ; and most believe that most fish breed after this 
manner, except the Eel. And it has been observed, 
that when the spawner has weakened herself by doing 
that natural office, that two or three melters have 
helped her from off the weeds by bearing her up on 
both sides, and guarding her into the deep. And you 
may note, that, though this may seem a curiosity not 
worth observing, yet others have judged it worth their 
time and costs to make glass hives, and order them in 
such a manner as to sec how bees have bred and made 



Chap. IX.] 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



197 



their honeycombs, and how they have obeyed their 
king and governed their commonwealth. But it is 
thought that all Carps are not bred by generation, but 
that some breed other ways, as some Pikes do. 

The physicians make the galls and stones in the 
heads of Carps to be very medicinable. But 't is not 
to be doubted but that in Italy they make great profit 
of the spawn of Carps, by selling it to the Jews, who 
make it into red caviare, the Jews not being by their 
law admitted to eat of caviare made of the Sturgeon, 
that being a fish that wants scales, and, as may ap- 
pear in Levit. xi. 10, by them reputed to be unclean. 

Much more might be said out of him, and out of 
Aristotle, which Dubravius often quotes in his Dis- 
course of Fishes ; but it might rather perplex than 
satisfy you ; and therefore I shall rather choose to 
direct you how to catch, than spend more time in 
discoursing either of the nature or the breeding of 
this Carp, 




190 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

or of any more circumstances concerning him : but 
yet I shall remember you of what I told you before, 
that he is a very subtle fish, and hard to be caught. 

And my first direction is, that, if you will fish for a 
Carp, you must put on a very large measure of pa- 
tience ; especially to fish for a River-Carp : I have 
known a very good fisher angle diligently four or six 
hours in a day, for three or four days together, for a 
River-Carp, and not have a bite. And you are to note 
that, in some ponds, it is as hard to catch a Carp as in 
a river ; that is to say, where they have store of feed, 
and the water is of a clayish color : but you are to re- 
member, that I have told you there is no rule without 
an exception ; and therefore, being possessed with that 
hope and patience, which I wish to all fishers, espe- 
cially to the Carp-Angler, I shall tell you with what 
bait to fish for him. But first you are to know, that 
it must be either early or late ; and let me tell you, 
that in hot weather, for he will seldom bite in cold, 
you cannot be too early or too late at it. And some 
have been so curious as to say, the 10th of April is a 
fatal day for Carps. 

The Carp bites either at worms or at paste ; and of 
worms I think the bluish marsh or meadow worm is 
best ; but possibly another worm, not too big, may do 
as well, and so may a green gentle : and as for pastes, 
there are almost as many sorts as there are medicines 
for the toothache ; but doubtless sweet pastes are 
best ; I mean pastes made with honey or with sugar : 
which, that you may the better beguile this crafty fish, 
should be thrown into the pond or place in which you 



Chap. IX.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 199 

fish for him some hours, or longer, before you under- 
take your trial of skill with the angle-rod : and, doubt- 
less, if it be thrown into the water a day or two before, 
at several times and in small pellets, you' are the like- 
lier when you fish for the Carp to obtain your desired 
sport. Or in a large pond, to draw them to any cer- 
tain place, that they may the better and with more 
hope be fished for, you are to throw into it, in some 
certain place, either grains, or blood mixed with cow- 
dung or with bran ; or any garbage, as chicken's guts, 
or the like ; and then some of your small sweet pellets 
with which you purpose to angle : and these small 
pellets being a few of them also thrown in as you are 
angling, will be the better. 

And your paste must be thus made : take the flesh 
of a rabbit or cat cut small, and bean-flour ; and if 
that may not be easily got, get other flour, and then 
mix these together, and put to them either sugar, or 
honey, which I think better ; and then beat these to- 
gether in a mortar, or sometimes work them in your 
hands, your hands being very clean ; and then make 
it into a ball, or two, or three, as you like best for your 
use ; but you must work or pound it so long in the 
mortar, as to make it so tough as to hang upon your 
hook without washing from it, yet not too hard : or 
that you may the better keep it on your hook, you may 
knead with your paste a little, and not much, white or 
yellowish wool. 

And if you would have this paste keep all the year 
for any other fish, then mix with it virgin-wax and 
clarified honey, and work them together with your 



200 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

hands before the fire ; then make these into balls, and 
they will keep all the year. 

And if you fish for a Carp with gentles, then put 
upon your hook a small piece of scarlet about this 
bigness Q, it being soaked in, or anointed with oil 
of peter, called by some oil of the rock : and if your 
gentles be put, two or three days before, into a box or 
horn anointed with honey, and so put upon your hook 
as to preserve them to be living, you are as like to kill 
this crafty fish this way as any other : but still as you 
are fishing, chew a little white or brown bread in your 
mouth, and cast it into the pond about the place where 
your float swims. Other baits there be ; but these, 
with diligence and patient watchfulness, will do it 
better than any that I have ever practised or heard 
of: and yet I shall tell you, that the crumbs of white 
bread and honey made into a paste is a good bait for 
a Carp ; and you know it is more easily made. And 
having said thus much of the Carp, my next discourse 
shall be of the Bream, which shall not prove so tedi- 
ous : and therefore I desire the continuance of your 
attention. 

But first 1 will tell you how to make this Carp, that 
is so curious to be caught, so curious a dish of meat, 
as shall make him worth all your labor and patience ; 
and though it is not without some trouble and charges, 
yet it will recompense both. 

Take a Carp, alive if possible, scour him, and rub 
him clean with water and salt, but scale him not : 
then open him, and put him with his blood and his 
liver, which you must save when you open him, into a 



Chap. IX.] 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



small pot or kettle ; then take sweet-marjoram, thyme, 
and parsley, of each half a handful ; a sprig of rose- 
mary, and another of savory ; bind them into two 
or three small bundles, and put them to your Carp, 
with four or five whole onions, twenty pickled oys- 
ters, and three anchovies. Then pour upon your 
Carp as much claret-wine as will only cover him ; and 
season your claret well with salt, cloves, and mace, 
and the rinds of oranges and lemons. That done, 
cover your pot and set it on a quick fire, till it be suf- 
ficiently boiled : then take out the Carp, and lay it 
with the broth into the dish, and pour upon it a quar- 
ter of a pound of the best fresh butter, melted and 
beaten with half a dozen spoonfuls of the broth, the 
yolks of two or three eggs, and some of the herbs 
shred : garnish your dish with lemons, and so serve it 
up, and much good do you ! Dr. T. 




THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I 



THE FOURTH DAY. 

Chap. X. — Observations of the Bream, and Directions 
to catch him. 

PlSCATOR. 
' I 'HE Bream, being at a full growth, is a large and 
-*- stately fish. He will breed both in rivers and 
ponds ; but loves best to live in ponds, and where, if 
he likes the water and air, he will grow not only to 
be very large, but as fat as a hog. He is by Gesner 
taken to be more pleasant, or sweet, than wholesome : 
this fish is long in growing, but breeds exceedingly in 
a water that pleases him ; yea, in many ponds so fast 
as to over-store them, and starve the other fish. 

He is very broad, with a forked tail, and his scales 
set in excellent order : he hath large eyes, and a 
narrow sucking mouth ; he hath two sets of teeth, and 
a lozenge-like bone, a bone to help his grinding. The 
melter is observed to have two large melts, and the 
female two large bags of eggs or spawn. 

Gesner reports, that in Poland a certain and a great 
number of large Breams were put into a pond, which 
in the next following winter were frozen up into one 
entire ice, and not one drop of water remaining, nor 
one of these fish to be found, though they were dili- 
gently searched for ; and yet the next spring, when the 
ice was thawed, and the weather warm, and fresh 
water got into the pond, he affirms they all appeared 



Chap. X.] 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



203 



again. This Gesner affirms, and I quote my author, 
because it seems almost as incredible as the resurrec- 
tion to an atheist. But it may win something in point 
of believing it, to him that considers the breeding or 
renovation of the silk-worm, and of many insects. 
And that is considerable which Sir Francis Bacon ob- 
serves in his " History of Life and Death," fol. 20, that 
there be some herbs that die and spring every year, 
and some endure longer. 

But though some do not, yet the French esteem this 
fish highly, and to that end have this proverb : "He 
that hath Breams in his pond is able to bid his friend 
welcome." And it is noted, that the best part of a 
Bream is his belly and head. 

Some say, that Breams and Roaches will mix their 
eggs and melt together, and so there is in manyplaces 
a bastard breed of Breams, that never come to be 
either large or good, but very numerous. 

The baits cjood to catch this Bream 




are many. First, paste made of brown bread and 
honey, gentles, or the brood of wasps that be young, 



204 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

and then not unlike gentles, and should be hard- 
ened in an oven, or dried on a tile before the 
fire to make them tough : or there is at the root 
of docks or flags, or rushes in watery places, a worm 
not unlike a maggot, at which Tench will bite free- 
ly. Or he will bite at a grasshopper with his legs 
nipped off, in June and July; or at several flies, un- 
der water, which may be found on flags that grow 
near to the water-side. I doubt not but that there 
be many other baits that are good, but I will turn 
them all into this most excellent one, either for a 
Carp or Bream, in any river or mere : it was given 
to me by a most honest and excellent Angler, and, 
hoping you will prove both, I will impart it to you. 

1. Let your bait be as big a red- worm as you can 
find, without a knot : get a pint or quart of them in 
an evening in garden-walks, or chalky commons, after 
a shower of rain ; and put them with clean moss well 
washed and picked, and the water squeezed out of 
the moss as dry as you can, into an earthern pot or 
pipkin set dry, and change the moss fresh every three 
or four days for three weeks or a month together ; 
then your bait will be at the best, for it will be clear 
and lively. 

2. Having thus prepared your baits, get your tack- 
ling ready and fitted for this sport. Take three long 
angling-rods, and as many and more silk, or silk and 

hair, lines, and as many large swan or goose 

S / quill floats. Then take a piece of lead made 

after this manner, and fasten them to the 

low-ends of your lines. Then fasten your 




Chap. X.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 2 05 

link-hook also to the lead, and let there be about a 
foot or ten inches between the lead and the hook ;' 
but be sure the lead be heavy enough to sink the float 
or quill a little under the water, and not the quill to 
bear up the lead, for the lead must lie on the ground. 
Note that your link next the hook may be smaller 
than the rest of your line, if you dare adventure, for 
fear of taking the Pike or Pearch, who will assuredly 
visit your hooks, till they be taken out, as I will show 
you afterwards, before either Carp or Bream will come 
near to bite. Note also, that when the worm is well 
baited, it will crawl up and down, as far as the lead 
will give leave, which much enticeth the fish to bite 
without suspicion. 

3. Having thus prepared your baits, and fitted your 
tackling, repair to the river, where you have seen them 
to swim in skuls or shoals in the summer-time in a 
hot afternoon, about three or four of the clock ; and 
watch their going forth of their deep holes and return- 
ing, which you may well discern, for they return about 
four of the clock, most of them seeking food at the 
bottom, yet one or two will lie on the top of the water, 
rolling and tumbling themselves whilst the rest are 
under him at the bottom ; and so you shall peixeive 
him to keep sentinel : then mark where he plays most, 
and stays longest, which commonly is in the broadest 
and deepest place of the river, and there, or near 
thereabouts, at a clear bottom and a convenient land- 
ing-place, take one of your angles ready fitted as 
aforesaid, and sound the bottom, which should be 
about eight or ten feet deep ; two yards from the bank 



206 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. x [Part I. 

is best. Then consider with yourself whether that 
water will rise or fall by the next morning, by reason 
of any water-mills near, and according to your dis- 
cretion take the depth of the place where you mean 
after to cast your ground-bait, and to fish, to half an 
inch ; that the lead lying on or near the ground-bait, 
the top of the float may only appear upright half an 
inch above the water. 

Thus you having found and fitted for the place and 
depth thereof, then go home and prepare your ground- 
bait ; which is, next to the fruit of your labors, to be 
regarded. 

The Ground-Bait. 

You shall take a peck, or a peck and a half, accord- 
ing to the greatness of the stream, and deepness of 
the water, where you mean to angle, of sweet gross- 
ground barley-malt, and boil it in a kettle ; one or two 
warms is enough : then strain it through a bag into 
a tub, the liquor whereof hath often done my horse 
much good ; and when the bag and malt is near cold, 
take it down to the water-side about eight or nine of 
the clock in the evening, and not before : cast in two 
parts of your ground-bait, squeezed hard between both 
your hands, it will sink presently to the bottom, and 
be sure it may rest in the very place where you mean 
to angle : if the stream run hard, or move a little, cast 
your malt in handfuls a little the higher, upwards the 
stream. You may, between your hands, close the malt 
so fast in handfuls, that the water will hardly part it 
with the fall. 



Chap. X.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 207 

Your ground thus baited, and tackling fitted, leave 
your bag with the rest of your tackling and ground- 
bait near the sporting-place all night ; and in the 
morning, about three or four of the clock, visit the 
water-side, but not too near, for they have a cunning 
watchman, and are watchful themselves too. 

Then gently take one of your three rods, and bait 
your hook, casting it over your ground-bait ; and 
gently and secretly draw it to you, till the lead rests 
about the middle of the ground-bait. 

Then take a second rod and cast in about a yard 
above, and your third a yard below the first rod, and 
stay the rods in the ground ; but go yourself so far 
from the water-side, that you perceive nothing but the 
top of the floats, which you must watch most dili- 
gently. Then, when you have a bite, you shall per- 
ceive the top of your float to sink suddenly into the 
water ; yet nevertheless be not too hasty to run to 
your rods, until you see that the line goes clear away ; 
then creep to the water-side, and give as much line as 
possibly you can : if it be a good Carp or Bream, they 
will go to the farther side of the river, then strike 
gently, and hold your rod at a bent a little while ; but 
if you both pull together, you are sure to lose your 
game, for either your line, or hook, or hold, will break : 
and after you have overcome them, they will make 
noble sport, and are very shy to be landed. The 
Carp is far stronger and more mettlesome than the 
Bream. 

Much more is to be observed in this kind of fish 
and fishing, but it is far fitter for experience and dis- 



208 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

course than paper. Only thus much is necessary for 
you to know, and to be mindful and careful of ; that 
if the Pike or Pearch do breed in that river, they 
will be sure to bite first, and must first be taken. 
And for the most part they are very large ; and will 
repair to your ground-bait, not that they will eat of 
it, but will feed and sport themselves amongst the 
young fry that gather about and hover- over the bait. 

The way to discern the Pike and to take him, if you 
mistrust your Bream-hook, — for I have taken a Pike 
a yard long several times at my Bream-hooks, and 
sometimes he hath had the luck to share my line, — 
may be thus : — 

Take a small Bleak, or Roach, or Gudgeon, and 
bait it ; and set it alive among your rods two foot 
deep from the cork, with a little red-worm on the 
point of the hook ; then take a few crumbs of white 
bread, or some of the ground-bait, and sprinkle it 
gently amongst your rods. If Mr. Pike be there, 
then the little fish will skip out of the water at his 
appearance, but the live-set bait is sure to be taken. 

Thus continue your sport from four in the morning 
till eight, and if it be a gloomy, windy day, they will 
bite all day long. But this is too long to stand to 
your rods at one place, and it will spoil your evening 
sport that day, which is this. 

About four of the clock in the afternoon repair to 
your baited place ; and as soon as you come to the 1 
water-side, cast in one half of the rest of your ground- 
bait, and stand off: then, whilst the fish are gathering 
together, for there they will most certainly come for 



Chap. X.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 2 00, 

their supper, you may take a pipe of tobacco ; and then 
in with your three rods as in the morning. You will 
find excellent sport that evening till eight of the clock : 
then cast in the residue of your ground-bait, and next 
morning by four of the clock visit them again for four 
hours, which is the best sport of all ; and after that, let 
them rest till you and your friends have a mind to 
more sport. 

From St. James's-tide until Bartholomew-tide is the 
best ; when they have had all the summer's food, they 
are the fattest. 

Observe lastly, that after three or four days' fishing 
together, your game will be very shy and wary, and 
you shall hardly get above a bite or two at a baiting ; 
then your only way is to desist from your sport about 
two or three days : and in the mean time, on the place 
you late baited, and again intend to bait, you shall 
take a turf of green but short grass, as big or bigger 
than a round trencher : to the top of this turf, on the 
green side, you shall, with a needle and green thread, 
fasten one by one as many little red-worms as will 
near cover all the turf. Then take a round board or 
trencher, make a hole in the middle thereof, and 
through the turf, placed on the board or trencher, 
with a string or cord as long as is fitting, tied to a 
pole, let it down to the bottom of the water for the 
fish to feed upon without disturbance about two or 
three days ; and after that you have drawn it away, 
you may fall to, and enjoy your former recreation. 

B. A. 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 




THE FOURTH DAY 



Chap. XI. — Observations of the Tench, and Advice /una 
to angle for him. 

PlSCATOR. 
' i "HE Tench, the physician of fishes, is observed to 
love ponds better than rivers, and to love pits 
better than either ; yet Camden observes there is a 
river in Dorsetshire that abounds with Tenches, but 
doubtless they retire to the most deep and quiet 
places in it. 

This fish hath very large fins, very small and smooth 
scales, a red circle about his eyes, which are big and 
of a gold color, and from either angle of his mouth 
there hangs down a little barb. In every Tench's 
head there are two little stones, which foreign physi- 



Chap. XI.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 211 

cians make great use of; but he is not commended for 
wholesome meat, though there be very much use made 
of them, for outward applications. Rondeletius says, 
that at his being at Rome he saw a great cure done 
by applying a Tench to the feet of a very sick man. 
This, he says, was done after an unusual manner by- 
certain Jews. And it is observed, that many of those 
people have many secrets, yet unknown to Christians ; 
secrets that have never yet been written, but have 
been since the days of their Solomon, who knew the 
nature of all things, even from the cedar to the shrub, 
delivered by tradition from the father to the son, and 
so from generation to generation without writing ; or, 
unless it were casually, without the least communicat- 
ing them to any other nation or tribe : for to do that, 
they account a profanation. And yet it is thought 
that they, or some spirit worse than they, first told us, 
that lice swallowed alive were a certain cure for the 
yellow-jaundice. This and many other medicines were 
discovered by them, or by revelation ; for doubtless 
we attained them not by study. 

Well, this fish, besides his eating, is very useful, 
both dead and alive, for the good of mankind. But 
I will meddle no more with that ; my honest humble 
art teaches no such boldness : there are too many 
foolish meddlers in physic and divinity, that think 
themselves fit to meddle with hidden secrets, and so 
bring destruction to their followers. But I '11 not 
meddle with them, any farther than to wish them 
wiser ; and shall tell you next, for I hope I may be 
so bold, that the Tench is the physician of fishes ; for 



2 12 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part L 

the Pike especially, and that the Pike, being either 
sick or hurt, is cured by the touch of the Tench. 
And it is observed, that the tyrant Pike will not be a 
wolf to his physician, but forbears to devour him 
though he be never so hungry. 

This fish, that carries a natural balsam in him to 
cure both himself and others, loves yet to feed in vers 
foul water, and amongst weeds. And yet I am sure 
he eats pleasantly, and doubtless you will think so 
too, if you taste him. And I shall therefore proceed 
to give you some few, and but a few, directions how 
to catch this Tench, 




of which I have given you these observations. 

He will bite at a paste made of brown bread and 
honey, or at a marsh-worm, or a lob-worm ; he in- 
clines very much to any paste with which tar is mixed, 
and he will bite also at a smaller worm, with his head 
nipped off, and a cod-worm put on the hook before 
that worm ; and I doubt not but that he will also in 



Chap. XI.] 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



213 



the three hot months, for in the nine colder he stirs 
not much, bite at a flag-worm, or at a green gentle, 
but can positively say no more of the Tench, he. being 
a fish that I have not often angled for, but I wish my 
honest Scholar may, and be ever fortunate when he 
fishes. 




214 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 



THE FOURTH DAY. 

Chap. XII. — Observations . of the PEARCH, and Directions 
how to fish for him. 

PlSCATOR. 
r rHE Pearch is a very good and a very bold-biting 
-*■ fish. He is one of the fishes of prey that, like 
the Pike and Trout, carries his teeth in his mouth, 
which is very large ; and he dare venture to kill and 
devour several other kinds of fish. He has a hooked, 
or hog-back, which is armed with sharp and stiff 
bristles, and all his skin armed or covered over with 
thick, dry, hard scales ; and hath, which few other fish 
have, two fins on his back. He is so bold that he will 
invade one of his own kind, which the Pike will not 
do so willingly ; and you may therefore easily believe 
him to be a bold biter. 

The Pearch is of great esteem in I-taly, saith Aldro- 
vandus ; and especially the least are there esteemed a 
dainty dish. And Gesner prefers the Pearch and 
Pike above the Trout, or any fresh-water fish : he 
says the Germans have this proverb, "More whole- 
some than a Pearch of Rhine " : and he says the Riv- 
er-Pearch is so wholesome, that physicians allow him 
to be eaten by wounded men, or by men in fevers, or 
by women in child-bed. 

He spawns but once a year, and is by physicians 
held very nutritive ; yet, by many, to be hard of di- 
gestion. They abound more in the river Po and in 



Chap. XII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 215 

England, says Rondeletius, than other parts, and have 
in their brain a stone, which is, in foreign parts, sold 
by apothecaries, being there noted to be very medi- 
cinable against the stone in the reins. These be a 
part of the commendations which some philosophical 
brains have bestowed upon the fresh-water Pearch : 
yet they commend the Sea-Pearch, which is known by 
having but one fin on his back, of which, they say, we 
English see but a few, to be a much better fish. 

The Pearch grows slowly, yet will grow, as I have 
been credibly informed, to be almost two foot long; 
for an honest informer told me, such a one was not 
long since taken by Sir Abraham Williams, a gentle- 
man of worth, and a Brother of the Angle, that yet 
lives, and I wish he may. This was a deep-bodied 
fish, and doubtless durst have devoured a Pike of half 
his own length ; for I have told you he is a bold fish, 
such a one as, but for extreme hunger, the Pike will 
not devour : for to affright the Pike, and save himself, 
the Pearch will set up his fins, much like as a turkey- 
cock will sometimes set up his tail. 

But, my Scholar, the Pearch is not only valiant to 
defend himself, but he is, as I said, a bold-biting fish, 
yet he will not bite at all seasons of the year ; he is 
very abstemious in winter, yet will bite then in the 
midst of the day, if it be warm : and note, that all 
fish bite best about the midst of a warm day in winter, 
and he hath been observed by some not usually to 
bite till the mulberry-tree buds ; that is to say, till 
extreme frosts be past the spring : for when the mul- 
berry-tree blossoms, many gardeners observe their 



2l6 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



[Part I. 



forward fruit to be past the danger of frosts ; and 
some have made the like observation of the Pearch's 
biting. 

But bite the Pearch will, and that very boldly ; and 
as one has wittily observed, if there be twenty or forty 
in a hole, they may be, at one standing, all catched 
one after another ; they being, as he says, like the 
wicked of the world, not afraid, though- their fellows 
and companions perish in their sight. And you may 
observe, that they are not like the solitary Pike ; but 
love to accompany one another, and march together 
in troops. 

And the baits for this bold fish 




are not many : I mean, he will bite as well at some or 
at any of these three, as at any or all others whatso- 
ever, — a worm, a minnow, or a little frog, of which you 
may find many in hay-time : and of worms the dung- 
hill-worm, called a Brandling, I take to be best, be- 
ing well scoured in moss or fennel ; or he will bite at 
a worm that lies under cow-dung, with a bluish head. 







T. 1. ^rilltaare.A-B.,- 



/ie cz-m^ia^J 



Chap. XII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 217 

And if you rove for a Pearch with a minnow, then it is 
best to be alive, you sticking your hook through his 
back fin ; or a minnow with a hook in his upper lip, 
and letting him swim up and down, about mid-water 
or a little lower, and you still keeping him to about 
that depth by a cork, which ought not to be a very 
little one : and the like way you are to fish for the 
Pearch, with a small frog, your hook being fastened 
through the skin of his leg, towards the upper part of 
it : and lastly, I will give you but this advice, that you 
give the Pearch time enough when he bites, for there 
was scarce ever any Angler that has given him too 
much. And now I think best to rest myself, for I 
have almost spent my spirits with talking so long. 

VEN. Nay, good Master, one fish more, for you see 
it rains still, and you know our Angles are like money 
put to usury ; they may thrive, though we sit still and 
do nothing but talk and enjoy one another. Come, 
come, the other fish, good Master. 

PlSC. But, Scholar, have you nothing to mix with 
this discourse, which now grows both tedious and 
tiresome ? Shall I have nothing from you, that seem 
to have both a good memory and a cheerful spirit ? 

Ven. Yes, Master, I will speak you a copy of 
verses that were made by Doctor Donne, and made to 
show the world that he could make soft and smooth 
verses, when he thought smoothness worth his labor ; 
and I love them the better, because they allude to 
rivers, and fish, and fishing. They be these : — 

"Come, live with me, and be my love, 
And we will some new pleasures prove, 



2l3 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

Of golden sands, and crystal brooks, 
With silken lines and silver hooks. 

"There will the river whispering run, 
Warmed by the eyes more than the sun ; 
And there the enamelled fish will stay, 
Begging themselves they may betray. 

" When thou wilt swim in that live bath, 
Each fish, which every channel hath, 
Most amorously to thee will swim, 
Gladder to catch thee than thou him. 

" If thou to be so seen be'st loath, 
By sun or moon, thou dark'nest both ; 
And if mine eyes have leave to see, 
I need not their light, having thee. 

" Let others freeze with angling-reeds, 
And cut their legs with shells and weeds ; 
Or treacherously poor fish beset 
With strangling snares, or windowy net : 

" Let coarse, bold hands from slimy nest 
The bedded fish in banks outwrest ; 
Let curious traitors sleave silk flies, 
To 'witch poor wandering fishes' eyes : 

" For thee, thou need'st no such deceit, 
For thou thyself art thine own bait : 
That fish that is not catched thereby 
Is wiser far, alas ! than I." 

PlSC- Well remembered, honest Scholar! I thank 
you for these choice verses, which I have heard for- 
merly, but had quite forgot till they were recovered by 



Chap. XII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



219 



your happy memory. Well, being I have now rested 
myself a little, I will make you some requital, by tell- 
ing you some observations of the Eel, for it rains still ; 
and because, as you say, our angles are as money put 
to use, that thrives when we play, therefore we '11 sit 
still and enjoy ourselves a little longer under this hon- 
eysuckle hedgre. 




• 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 



THE FOURTH DAY. 

Chap. XIII. — Observations of the Eel, and other Fish that 
want scales, and hozu to fish for them. 

PlSCATOR. 
TT is agreed by most men, that the Eel is a most 
*~ dainty fish : the Romans have esteemed her the 
Helena of their feasts, and some the queen of palate- 
pleasure. But most men differ about their breeding : 
some say they breed by generation as other fish do ; 
and others, that they breed, as some worms do, of 
mud ; as rats and mice, and many other living crea- 
tures, are bred in Egypt by the sun's heat when it 
shines upon the overflowing of the river Nilus ; or out 
of the putrefaction of the earth, and divers other ways. 
Those that deny them to breed by generation as other 
fish do, ask, If any man ever saw an Eel to have a 
spawn or melt ? And they are answered, that they 
may be as certain of their breeding as if they had 
seen them spawn : for they say, that they are certain 
that Eels have all parts fit for generation, like other 
fish, but so small as not to be easily discerned, by rea- 
son of their fatness, but that discerned they may be, 
and that the he and the she Eel may be distinguished 
by their fins. And Rondeletius says, he has seen Eels 
cling together like dew-worms. 

And others say, that Eels, growing old, breed other 
Eels out of the corruption of their own age, which, 
Sir Francis Bacon says, exceeds not ten years. And 



Chap. XIII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 221 

others say, that as pearls are made of glutinous dew- 
drops, which are condensed by the sun's heat in those 
countries, so Eels are bred of a particular dew, falling 
in the months of May or June on the banks of some 
particular ponds or rivers, apted by nature for that 
end ; which in a few days are by the sun's heat turned 
into Eels : and some of the ancients have called the 
Eels that are thus bred the offspring of Jove. I 
have seen in the beginning of July, in a river not far 
from Canterbury, some parts of it covered over with 
young Eels, about the thickness of a straw ; and these 
Eels did lie on the top of that water, as thick as motes 
are said to be in the sun : and I have heard the like 
of other rivers, as namely in Severn, where they are 
called Yelvers ; and in a pond or mere near unto 
Staffordshire, where, about a set time in summer, such 
small Eels abound so much, that many of the poorer 
sort of people, that inhabit near to it, take such Eels 
out of this mere with sieves or sheets, and make a 
kind of Eel-cake of them, and eat it like as bread. 
And Gesner quotes Venerable Bede to say, that in 
England there is an island called Ely, by reason of 
the innumerable number of Eels that breed in it. But 
that Eels may be bred as some worms, and some 
kind of bees and wasps are, either of dew, or out 
of the corruption of the earth, seems to be made 
probable by the barnacles and young goslings bred by 
the sun's heat and the rotten planks of an old ship, 
and hatched of trees ; both which are related for 
truths by Du Bartas and Lobek and also by our 
learned Camden, and laborious Gerard in his Herbal. 



222 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

It is said by Rondeletius, that those Eels that are 
bred in rivers that relate to or be nearer to the sea, 
never return to the fresh waters, as the Salmon does 
always desire to do, when they have once tasted the 
salt-water ; and I do the more easily believe this, 
because I am certain that powdered beef is a most 
excellent bait to catch an Eel. And though Sir Fran- 
cis Bacon will allow the Eel's life to be but ten years, 
yet he, in his " History of Life and Death," mentions 
a Lamprey belonging to the Roman Emperor to be 
made tame, and so kept for almost threescore years : 
and that such useful and pleasant observations were 
made of this Lamprey, that Crassus the orator, who 
kept her, lamented her death. And we read in Doc- 
tor Hakewill, that Hortensius was seen to weep at the 
death of a Lamprey that he had kept long, and loved 
exceedingly. 

It is granted by all, or most men, that Eels, for 
about six months, that is to say, the six cold months 
of the year, stir not up and down, neither in the rivers, 
nor in the pools in which they usually are, but get 
into the soft earth or mud ; and there many of them 
together bed themselves, and live without feeding upon 
anything, as I have told you some swallows have been 
observed to do in hollow trees for those cold six 
months : and this the Eel and swallow do, as not be- 
ing able to endure winter weather ; for Gesner quotes 
Albertus to say, that in the year 1125, that year's win- 
ter being more cold than usually, Eels did by nature's 
instinct get out of the water into a stack of hay in a 
meadow upon dry ground, and there bedded them- 



Chap. XIII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 223 

selves ; but yet at last a frost killed them. And our 
Camden relates, that in Lancashire fishes were digged 
out of the earth with spades, where no water was 
near to the place. I shall say little more of the Eel, 
but that, as it is observed he is impatient of cold, so it 
hath been observed that, in warm weather, an Eel has 
been known to live five days out of the water. 

And lastly, let me tell you that some curious search- 
ers into the natures of fish observe that there be 
several sorts or kinds of Eels : as the Silver Eel, and 
Green or greenish Eel, with which the river of Thames 
abounds, and those are called Grigs ; and a blackish 
Eel, whose head is more flat and bigger than ordinary 
Eels ; and also an Eel whose fins are reddish, and 
but seldom taken in this nation, and yet taken some- 
times. These several kinds of Eels are, say some, 
diversely bred ; as namely, out of the corruption of the 
earth, and some by dew, and other ways, as I have 
said to you : and yet it is affirmed by some for a cer- 
tain, that the Silver Eel is bred by generation ; but 
not by spawning as other fish do, but that her brood 
come alive from her, being then little live Eels no big- 
ger nor longer than a pin : and I have had too many 
testimonies of this to doubt the truth of it myself ; 
and if I thought it needful I might prove it, but 1 
think it is needless. 

And this Eel, of which I have said so much to you, 
may be caught with divers kinds of baits : as namely, 
with powdered beef ; with a lob or garden worm ; 
with a minnow ; or gut of a hen, chicken, or the guts 
of any fish ; or with almost anything, for he is a greedy 



224 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

fish. But the Eel may be caught, especially, with a 
little, a very little Lamprey, which some call a Pride, 
and may in the hot months be found many of them in 
the river Thames, and in many mud-heaps in other 
rivers ; yea, almost as usually as one finds worms in a 
dunghill. 

Next note, that the Eel seldom stirs in the day, but 
then hides himself ; and therefore he is usually caught 
by night, with one of these baits of which I have 
spoken, and may be then caught by laying hooks, 
which you are to fasten to the bank, or twigs of a tree ; 
or by throwing a string cross the stream with many 
hooks at it, and those baited with the aforesaid baits ; 
and a clod, or plummet, or stone, thrown into the river 
with this line, that so you may in the morning find it 
near to some fixed place, and then take it up with a 
drag-hook or otherwise. But these things are, indeed, 
too common to be spoken of, and an hour's fishing 
with any Angler will teach you better both for these 
and many other common things in the practical part 
of Angling, than a week's discourse. I shall therefore 
conclude this direction for taking the Eel, by telling 
you that, in a warm day in summer, I have taken 
many a good Eel by snigling, and have been much 
pleased with that sport. 

And because you that are but a young Angler know 
not what snigling is, I will now teach it to you. You 
remember I told you that Eels do not usually stir in 
the daytime, for then they hide themselves under 
some covert, or under boards or planks about flood- 
gates, or weirs, or mills, or in holes in the river-banks : 



Chap. XIII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



225 



so that you, observing your time in a warm day, when 
the water is lowest, may take a strong, small hook, 
tied to a strong line, or to a string about a yard long ; 
and then into one of these holes, or between any 
boards about a mill, or under any great stone or plank, 
or any place where you think an Eel may hide or shel- 
ter herself, you may, and with the help of a short stick, 
put in your bait, but leisurely, and as far as you may 
conveniently : and it is scarce to be doubted but that, 
if there be an Eel within the sight of it, the Eel will 
bite instantly, and as certainly gorge it : and you need 
not doubt to have him, if you pull him not out of the 
hole too quickly, but pull him out by degrees ; for he, 
lying folded double in his hole, will, with the help of 
his tail, break all, unless you give him time to be 
wearied with pulling, and so get him out by degrees, 
not pulling too hard. 

And to commute for your patient hearing this long 
direction, I shall next tell you how to make this Eel 



■h-;.\ 




a most excellent dish of meat. 



226 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

First, wash him in water and salt ; then pull off 
his skin below his vent or navel, and not much fur- 
ther : having done that, take out his guts as clean as 
you can, but wash him not : then give him three or 
four scotches with a knife ; and then put into his belly 
and those scotches sweet herbs, an anchovy, and a 
little nutmeg grated or cut very small ; and your herbs 
and anchovies must also be cut very small, and mixed 
with good butter and salt : having done this, then pull 
his skin over him all but his head, which you are to cut 
off, to the end you may tie his skin about that part 
where his head grew, and it must be so tied as to 
keep all his moisture within his skin : and having 
done this, tie him with tape or packthread to a spit, 
and roast him leisurely, and baste him with water and 
salt till his skin breaks, and then with butter : and 
having roasted him enough, let what was put into his 
belly, and what he drips, be his sauce. S. F. 

When I go to dress an Eel thus, I wish he were as 
long and big as that which was caught in Peterbor- 
ough River in the year 1667, which was a yard and 
three quarters long. If you will not believe me, then 
go and see at one of the coffee-houses in King Street 
in Westminster. 

But now let me tell you, that though the Eel thus 
dressed be not only excellent good, but more harmless 
than any other way, yet it is certain that physicians 
account the Eel dangerous meat ; I will advise you 
therefore, as Solomon says of honey, Prov. xxv. 16, 
" Hast thou found it, eat no more than is sufficient, 



Chap. XIII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 227 

lest thou surfeit, for it is not good to eat much honey." 
And let me add this, that the uncharitable Italian bids 
us " give Eels, and no wine, to our enemies." 

And I will beg a little more of your attention to tell 
you, that Aldrovandus and divers physicians com- 
mend the Eel very much for medicine, though not for 
meat. But let me tell you one observation ; that the 
Eel is never out of season, as Trouts and most fish are 
at set times ; at least most Eels are not. 

I might here speak of many other fish whose shape 
and nature are much like the Eel, and frequent both 
the sea and fresh rivers ; as namely, the Lamprel, the 
Lamprey, and the Lamperne ; as also of the mighty 
Conger, taken often in Severn about Gloucester : and 
might also tell in what high esteem many of them are 
for the curiosity of their taste. But these are not so 
proper to be talked of by me, because they make us 
Anglers no sport ; therefore I will let them alone, as 
the Jews do, to whom they are forbidden by their law. 

And, Scholar, there is also a Flounder, a sea-fish, 
which will wander very far into fresh rivers, and there 
lose himself, and dwell, and thrive to a hand's breadth, 
and almost twice so long, — a fish without scales, and 
most excellent meat, — and a fish that affords much 
sport to the Angler, with any small worm, but espe- 
cially a little bluish worm, gotten out of marsh-ground 
or meadows, which should be well scoured. But this, 
though it be most excellent meat, yet it wants scales, and 
is, as I told you, therefore an abomination to the Jews. 

But, Scholar, there is a fish that they in Lancashire 
boast very much of, called a Char, taken there, and I 



2 28 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

think there only, in a mere called Winander-Mere ; a 
mere, says Camden, that is the largest in this nation, 
being ten miles in length, and, some say, as smooth in 
the bottom as if it were paved with polished marble. 
This fish never exceeds fifteen or sixteen inches in 
length, and 't is spotted like a Trout, and has scarce 
a bone but on the back. But this, though I do not 
know whether it make the Angler sport, yet I would 
have you take notice of it, because it is a rarity, and 
of so high esteem with persons of great note. 

Nor would I have you ignorant of a rare fish called 
a Guiniad, of which I shall tell you what Camden 
and others speak. The river Dee, which runs by 
Chester, springs in Merionethshire ; and, as it runs 
toward Chester, it runs through Pemble-Mere, which 
is a large water : and it is observed that, though the 
river Dee abounds with Salmon, and Pemble-Mere 
with the Guiniad, yet there is never any Salmon 
caught in the mere, nor a Guiniad in the river. And 
now my next observation shall be of the Barbel. 




Chap. XIV.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 229 



THE FOURTH DAY. 

Chap. XIV. — Observations of the Barbel, and Directions 
how to fish for him. 

PlSCATOR. 

HP HE Barbel is so called, says Gesner, by reason of 
-*- his barb or wattels at his mouth, which are under 
his nose or chaps. He is one of those leather-mouthed 
fishes that I told you of, that does very seldom break 
his hold if he be once hooked : but he is so strong, 
that he will often break both rod and line, if he proves 
to be a big one. 

But the Barbel, though he be of a fine shape, and 
looks big, yet he is not accounted the best fish to eat, 
neither for his wholesomeness nor his taste : but the 
male is reputed much better than the female, whose 
spawn is very hurtful, as I will presently declare to 
you. 

They flock together like sheep, and are at the worst 
in April, about which time they spawn, but quickly 
grow to be in season. He is able to live in the strong- 
est swifts of the water, and in summer they love the 
shallowest and sharpest streams ; and love to lurk 
under weeds, and to feed on gravel against a rising 
ground, and will root and dig in the sands with his 
nose like a hog, and there nests himself: yet some- 
times he retires to deep and swift bridges, or flood- 
gates, or weirs, where he will nest himself amongst 
piles, or in hollow places, and take such hold of moss 



230 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

or weeds, that, be the water never so swift, it is not 
able to force him from the place that he contends for. 
This is his constant custom in summer, when he and 
most living creatures sport themselves in the sun ; but 
at the approach of winter, then he forsakes the swift 
streams and shallow waters, and by degrees retires to 
those parts of the river that are quiet and deeper : in 
which places, and I think about that time, -he spawns ; 
and, as I have formerly told you, with the help of the 
melter, hides his spawn or eggs in holes, which they 
both dig in the gravel : and then they mutually labor 
to cover it with the same sand, to prevent it from 
being devoured by other fish. 

There be such store of this fish in the river Dan- 
ube, that Rondeletius says they may in some places 
of it, and in some months in the year, be taken by 
those that dwell near to the river, with their hands, 
eight or ten load at a time. He says, they begin to 
be good in May, and that they cease to be so in Au- 
gust, but it is found to be otherwise in this nation : 
but thus far we agree with him, that the spawn of a 
Barbel, if it be not poison, as he says, yet that it is 
dangerous meat, and especially in the month of May ; 
which is so certain, that Gesner and Gasius declare it 
had an ill effect upon them, even to the endangering 
of their lives. 

This fish is of a fine cast and handsome shape, with 
small scales, which are placed after a most exact and 
curious manner, and, as 1 told you, may be rather said 
not to be ill, than to be good meat. The Chub and he 
have, I think, both lost part of their credit by ill cook- 



Chap. XT.V.1 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



231 



ery, they being reputed the worst or coarsest of fresh- 
water fish. But the BARBEL 




affords an Angler choice sport, being a lusty and a 
cunning fish ; so lusty and cunning as to endanger the 
breaking of the Angler's line, by running his head 
forcibly towards any covert, or hole, or bank ; and 
then striking at the line, to break it off with his tail, 
as is observed by Plutarch, in his book " De Industria 
Animalium" ; and also so cunning to nibble and suck 
off your worm close to the hook, and yet avoid the let- 
ting the hook come into his mouth. 

The Barbel is also curious for his baits, that is to 
say, that they be clean and sweet ; that is to say, to 
have your worms well scoured, and not kept in sour 
and musty moss, for he is a curious feeder : but at a 
well-scoured Lob-worm he will bite as boldly as at 
any bait, and specially if, the night or two before you 
fish for him, you shall bait the places where you in- 
tend to fish for him with big worms cut into pieces : 
and note, that none did ever over-bait the place, nor 



232 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

fish too early or too late for a Barbel. And the Barbel 
will bite also at gentles, which not being too much 
scoured, but green, are a choice bait for him ; and so 
is cheese, which is not to be too hard, but kept a day 
or two in a wet linen cloth to make it tough : with this 
you may also bait the water a day or two before you 
fish for the Barbel, and be much the likelier to catch 
store : and if the cheese were laid in clarified honey a 
short time before, as namely, an hour or two, you were 
still the likelier to catch fish. Some have directed to 
cut the cheese into thin pieces, and toast it, and then 
tie it on the hook with fine silk : and some advise to 
fish for the Barbel with sheep's tallow and soft cheese 
beaten or worked into a paste, and that it is choicely 
good in August, and I believe it : but doubtless the 
Lob-worm well scoured, and the gentle not too much 
scoured, and cheese ordered as I have directed, are 
baits enough, and I think will serve in any month ; 
though I shall commend any Angler that tries con- 
clusions, and is industrious to improve the art. And 
now, my honest Scholar, the long shower and my 
tedious discourse are both ended together : and I 
shall give you but this observation, that when you 
fish for a Barbel your rod and line be both long, 
and of good strength ; for, as 1 told you, you will find 
him a heavy and a dogged fish to be dealt withal, yet 
he seldom or never breaks his hold if he be once 
strucken. And if you would know more of fishing for 
the Umber or Barbel, get into favor with Doctor 
Sheldon, whose skill is above others ; and of that 
the poor that dwell about him have a comfortable 
experience. 



Chap. XIV.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 233 

And now let 's go and see what interest the Trouts 
will pay us for letting our Angle-rods lie so long, and 
so quietly, in the water, for their use. Come, Scholar, 
which will you take up ? 

Ven. "Which you think fit, Master. 

PlSC. Why, you shall take up that ; for I am cer- 
tain, by viewing the line, it has a fish at it. Look you, 
Scholar ! Well done ! Come now, take up the other 
too ; well ! Now you may tell my brother Peter at 
night, that you have caught a leash of Trouts this 
day. And now let 's move toward our lodging, and 
drink a draught of red-cow's milk as we go, and give 
pretty Maudlin and her honest mother a brace of 
Trouts for their supper. 

VEN. Master, I like your motion very well ; and I 
think it is now about milking-time, and yonder they 
be at it. 

PlSC. God speed you, good woman ! I thank you 
both for our songs last night : I and my companion 
have had such fortune a-fishing this day, that we re- 
solve to give you and Maudlin a brace of Trouts for 
supper, and we will now taste a draught of your red- 
cow's milk. 

MlLKW. Marry, and that you shall with all my 
heart, and I will be still your debtor when you come 
this way : if you will but speak the word I will, make 
you a good syllabub, of new verjuice, and then you 
may sit down in a hay-cock and eat it ; and Maudlin 
shall sit by and sing you the good old song of the 
" Hunting in Chevy Chace," or some other good bal- 
lad, for she hath store of them. Maudlin, my honest 



234 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



[Part I. 



Maudlin, hath a notable memory, and she thinks 
nothing too good for you, because you be such hon- 
est men. 

Ven. We thank you, and intend once in a month 
to call upon you again, and give you a little warning, 
and so good night. Good night, Maudlin. And now, 
good Master, let 's lose no time ; but tell me some- 
what more of fishing, and, if you please; first some- 
thing of fishing for a Gudgeon. 

PiSC. I will, honest Scholar. 




Chap. XV.J THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



35 



THE FOURTH DAY. 

Chap. XV. — Observations of the Gudgeon, the Ruffe, 
and the Bleak, and how to fish for them. 

PlSCATOR. 

HE Gudgeon is reputed a fish of excellent taste, 
to be very wholesome : he is of a fine shape. 



T'HE i 
and 




of a silver color, and beautified with black spots both 
on his body and tail. He breeds two or three times in 
the year, and always in summer. He is commended 
for a fish of excellent nourishment : the Germans call 
him Groundling, by reason of his feeding on the 
ground ; and he there feasts himself in sharp streams, 
and on the gravel. He and the Barbel both feed so, 
and do not hunt for flies at any time, as most other 
fishes do : he is an excellent fish to enter a young 
Angler, being easy to be taken with a small red-worm, 
on or very near to the ground. He is one of those 
leather-mouthed fish that has his teeth in his throat, 
and will hardly be lost from off the hook if he be once 



236 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

strucken. They be usually scattered up and down 
every- river in the shallows, in the heat of summer ; 
but in autumn, when the weeds begin to grow sour or 
rot, and the weather colder, then they gather together, 
and get into the deeper parts of the water ; and are to 
be fished for there, with your hook always touching 
the ground, if you fish for him with a float, or with a 
cork. But many will fish for the Gudgeon by hand, 
with a running-line upon the ground, without a cork, 
as a Trout is fished for, and it is an excellent way, if 
you have a gentle rod and as gentle a hand. 

There is also another fish called a Pope, and by 
some a RUFFE ; a fish that is not known to be in some 




rivers : he is much like the Pearch for his shape, and 
taken to be better than the Pearch, but will not grow 
to be bigger than a Gudgeon : he is an excellent fish, 
no fish that swims is of a pleasanter taste, and he is 
also excellent to enter a young Angler, for he is a 
greedy biter, and they will usually lie, abundance of 
them together, in one reserved place, where the water 
is deep, and runs quietly ; and an easy Angler, if he 
has found where they lie, may catch forty or fifty, or 
sometimes twice so many, at a standing. 



Chap. XV.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 237 

You must fish for him with a small red worm, and 
if you bait the ground with earth, it is excellent. 

There is also a Bleak, or Fresh-water Sprat, a fish 
that is ever in motion, and therefore called by some 
the River-Swallow ; for just as you shall observe the 
Swallow to be, most evenings in summer, ever in mo- 
tion, making short and quick turns when he flies to 
catch flies in the air, by which he lives, so does the 
Bleak at the top of the water. Ausonius would have 
him called Bleak, from his whitish color : his back is 




of a pleasant sad or sea-water-green, his belly white 
and shining as the mountain snow. And, doubtless, 
though he have the fortune, which virtue has in poor 
people, to be neglected, yet the Bleak ought to be 
much valued, though we want Allamot-salt, and the 
skill that the Italians have to turn them into Ancho- 
vies. This fish may be caught with a Pater-noster 
line ; that is, six or eight very small hooks tied along 
the line, one half a foot above the other : I have seen 
five caught thus at one time, and the bait has been 
gentles, than which none is better. 

Or this fish may be caught with a fine small arti- 
ficial fly, which is to be of a very sad brown color, 
and very small, and the hook answerable. There is 



2 3 8 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



[Part I. 



no better sport than whipping for Bleaks in a boat, or 
on a bank in the swift water in a summer's evening, 
with a hazel top about five or six foot long, and a line 
twice the length of the rod. I have heard Sir Henry 
Wotton say, that there be many that in Italy will 
catch swallows so, or especially martins, this bird-an- 
gler standing on the top of a steeple to do it, and with 
a line twice so long as I have spoken of : and let me 
tell you, Scholar, that both Martins and Bleaks be 
most excellent meat. 

And let me tell you, that I have known a Hern that 
did constantly frequent one place caught with a hook 
baited with a big minnow or a small gudgeon. The 
line and hook must be strong, and tied to some loose 
staff, so big as she cannot fly away with it, — ■ a line 
not exceeding two yards. 




Chap. XVI. J THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 239 

THE FOURTH DAY. 
Chap. XVI. — Is of nothing, or that which is nothing worth. 

PlSCATOR. 

1\ /[ Y purpose was to give you some directions con- 
LV ■*■ cerning Roach and Dace, and some other in- 
ferior fish, which make the Angler excellent sport, for 
you know there is more pleasure in hunting the hare 
than in eating her : but I will forbear at this time to 
say any more, because you see yonder come our 
Brother Peter and honest Coridon. But I will prom- 
ise you, that, as you and I fish and walk to-morrow 
towards London, if I have now forgotten anything 
that I can then remember, I will not keep it from you. 

Well met, Gentlemen ; this is lucky that we meet so 
just together at this very door. Come, Hostess, where 
are you ? Is supper ready ? Come, first give us drink, 
and be as quick as you can, for I believe we are all 
very hungry. Well, Brother Peter and Coridon, to 
you both ! come, drink, and then tell me what luck of 
fish : we two have caught but ten Trouts, of which my 
Scholar caught three ; look, here 's eight, and a brace 
we gave away : we have had a most pleasant day for 
fishing and talking, and are returned home both 
weary and hungry ; and now meat and rest will be 
pleasant. 

Pet. And Coridon and I have had not an unpleas- 
ant day, and yet I have caught but five Trouts ; for 
indeed we went to a good honest ale-house, and there 



240 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

we played at shovel-board half the day ; all the time 
that it rained we were there, and as merry as they that 
fished. And I am glad we are now with a dry house 
over our heads ; for, hark ! how it rains and blows. 
Come, Hostess, give us more ale, and our supper with 
what haste you may : and when we have supped 
let us have your song, Piscator, and the catch that 
your Scholar promised us, or else Coridon will be- 
dogged. 

PlSC. Nay, I will not be worse than my word ; you 
shall not want my song, and I hope I shall be perfect 
in it. 

Ven. And I hope the like for my catch, which I 
have ready too : and therefore let 's go merrily to sup- 
per, and then have a gentle touch at singing and 
drinking ; but the last with moderation. 

COR. Come, now for your song, for we have fed 
heartily. Come, Hostess, lay a few more sticks on the 
fire, and now sing when you will. 

PlSC. Well then here 's to you, Coridon ; and now 
for my song. 

" O, the gallant fisher's life, 
It is the best of any ; 
'T is full of pleasure, void of strife, 
And 't is beloved by many : 

Other joys 

Are but toys, 

Only this 

Lawful is ; 

For our skill 

Breeds no ill, 
But content and pleasure. 



Chap. XVI.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 241 

" In a morning up we rise, 
Ere Aurora's peeping : 
Drink a cup to wash our eyes, 
Leave the sluggard sleeping : 

Then we go 

To and fro, 

With our knacks 

At our backs, 

To such streams 

As the Thames, 
If we have the leisure. 

' ' When we please to walk abroad 
For our recreation, 
In the fields is our abode, 
Full of delectation : 

Where in a brook 

With a hook, 

Or a lake, 

Fish we take ; 

There we sit, 

For a bit, 
Till we fish entangle. 

" We have gentles in a horn, 
We have paste and worms too ; 
We can watch both night and morn, 
Suffer rain and storms too. 

None do here 

Use to swear, 

Oaths do fray 

Fish away ; 

We sit still, 

And watch our quill ; 
Fishers must not wrangle. 

" If the sun's excessive heat 
Make our bodies swelter. 



242 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

To an osier-hedge we get 
For a friendly shelter ; 

Where in a dike 

Pearch or Pike, 

Roach or Dace, 

We do chase, 

Bleak or Gudgeon 

Without grudging ; 
We are still contented. 

" Or we sometimes pass an hour 
Under a green willow ; 
That defends us from a shower, 
Making earth our pillow ; 

Where we may 

Think and pray, 

Before death 

Stops our breath : 

Other joys 

Are but toys, 
And to be lamented.'' 

Jo. Chalkhill. 

Ven. Well sung, Master ! This day's fortune and 
pleasure, and this night's company and song, do all 
make me more and more in love with Angling. Gen- 
tlemen, my Master left me alone for an hour this day ; 
and I verily believe he retired himself from talking 
with me, that-he might be so perfect in this song ; was 
it not, Master ? 

PlSC. Yes, indeed, for it is many years since I 
learned it ; and having forgotten a part of it, I was 
forced to patch it up by the help of mine own inven- 
tion, who am not excellent at poetry, as my part of the 
song may testify : but of that I will say no more, lest 



Chap. XVI.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 243 

you should think I mean by discommending it to beg 
your commendations of it. And therefore, without 
replications, let 's hear your catch, Scholar ; which I 
hope will be a good one, for you are both musical and 
have a good fancy to boot. 

Ven. Marry, and that you shall ; and as freely as I 
would have my honest Master tell me some more se- 
crets of fish and fishing as we walk and fish towards 
London to-morrow. But, Master, first let me tell you 
that, that very hour which you were absent from me, I 
sat down under a willow-tree by the water-side, and 
considered what you had told me of the owner of that 
pleasant meadow in which you then left me: that he 
had a plentiful estate, and not a heart to think so ; 
that he had at this time many lawsuits depending, 
and that they both damped his mirth, and took up so 
much of his time and thoughts, that he himself had 
not leisure to take the sweet content that I, who pre- 
tended no title to them, took in his fields : for I could 
there sit quietly ; and, looking on the water, see some 
fishes sport themselves in the silver streams, others 
leaping at flies of several shapes and colors ; looking 
on the hills, I could behold them spotted with woods 
and groves ; looking down the meadows, could see 
here a boy gathering lilies and lady-smocks, and there 
a girl cropping culverkeyes and cowslips, all to make 
garlands suitable to this present month of May. These, 
and many other field-flowers, so perfumed the air, that 
I thought that very meadow like that field in Sicily, of 
which Diodorus speaks, where the perfumes arising 
from the place make all dogs that hunt in it to fall off, 



244 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

and to lose their hottest scent. I say, as I thus sat, 
joying in my own happy condition, and pitying this 
poor rich man that owned this and many other pleas- 
ant groves and meadows about me, I did thankfully 
remember what my Saviour said, that the meek pos- 
sess the earth ; or rather, they enjoy what the other 
possess and enjoy not : for Anglers, and meek, quiet- 
spirited men, are free from those high, those restless 
thoughts, which corrode the sweets of life ; and they, 
and they only, can say, as the poet has happily ex- 
pressed it : — 

" Hail ! blest estate of lowliness ! 
Happy enjoyments of such minds, 
As, rich in self-contentedness, 
Can, like the reeds in roughest winds, 
By yielding make that blow but small 
At which proud oaks and cedars fall." 

There came also into my mind at that time certain 
verses in praise of a mean estate and an humble 
mind ; they were written by Phineas Fletcher, an ex- 
cellent Divine, and an excellent Angler, and the author 
of excellent Piscatory Eclogues, in which you shall see 
the picture of this good man's mind ; and I wish mine 
to be like it. 

" No empty hopes, no courtly fears, him fright, 
No begging wants his middle-fortune bite, 

But sweet content exiles both misery and spite. 
His certain life, that never can deceive him, 

Is full of thousand sweets, and rich content ; 
The smooth-leaved beeches in the field receive him 

With coolest shade, till noontide's heat be spent : 



Chap. XVI.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 245 

His life is neither tossed in boisterous seas, 

Or the vexatious world, or lost in slothful ease : 

Pleased and full blest he lives, when he his God can please. 

" His bed, more safe than soft, yields quiet sleeps, 
While by his side his faithful spouse hath place ; 

His little son into his bosom creeps, 
The lively picture of his father's face. 

His humble house or poor state ne'er torment him ; 

Less he could like, if less his God had lent him ; 

And when he dies, green turfs do for a tomb content him." 

Gentlemen, these were a part of the thoughts that 
then possessed me. And I there made a conversion 
of a piece of an old catch, and added more to it, fit- 
ting them to be sung bv us Anglers. Come, ,„ , 

° - ° ' Words and 

Master, you can sing well ; you must sing Music in the 

' : . Notes. 

a part of it as it is in this paper. 

Pet. I many, Sir, this is music indeed ! This has 

cheered my heart, and made me to remember six 

verses in praise of Music, which I will speak to you 

instantly. 

" Music ! miraculous rhetoric ! that speak'st sense 
Without a tongue, excelling eloquence ; 
With what ease might thy errors be excused, 
Wert thou as truly loved as thou 'rt abused ! 
But thou dull souls neglect, and some reprove thee, 

1 cannot hate thee, 'cause the Angels love thee." 

Ven. And the repetition of these last verses of 
music have called to my memory what Mr. Edmund 
Waller, a lover of the angle, says of Love and Mu- 
sic. 



246 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

" Whilst I listen to thy voice, 

Chloris, I feel my heart decay ; 
That powerful voice 

Calls my fleeting soul away : 
O, suppress that magic sound, 
Which destroys without a wound ! 

" Peace, Chloris, peace ; or singing die, 
That together you and I . 

To heaven may go : 

For all we know 
Of what the blessed do above 
Is, that they sing, and that they love." 

PlSC. Well remembered, Brother Peter ; these 
verses came seasonably, and we thank you heartily. 
Come, we will all join together, my Host and all, and 
sing my Scholar's Catch over again, and then each 
man drink the t'other cup and to bed, and thank God 
we have a dry house over our heads. 

PlSC. Well now, Good night to everybody. 

Pet. And so say I. 

Ven. And so say I. 

COR. Good night to you all ; and I thank you. 

PlSC. Good morrow, Brother Peter ! and the like to 
you, honest Coridon. Come, my Hostess says there 
is seven shillings to pay : let 's each man drink a pot 
for his morning's draught, and lay down his two shil- 
lings ; that so my Hostess may not have occasion to 
repent herself of being so diligent, and using us so 
kindly. 



Chap. XVI.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



247 



Pet. The motion is liked by everybody, and so, 
Hostess, here 's your money : we Anglers are all be- 
holden to you ; it will not be long ere I '11 see you 
again. And now, Brother Piscator, I wish you and 
my Brother, your Scholar, a fair day and good for- 
tune. Come, Coridon, this is our way. 




THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 



THE FIFTH DAY. 

Chap. XVII. — Of Roach and Dace, and horu to fish 
for them ; and of CADIS. 

Venator. 
f~~* OOD Master, as we go now towards London, be still 
^-"^ so courteous as to give me more instructions, for I 
have several boxes in my memory, in which I will keep 
them all very safe ; there shall not one of them be lost. 

PlSC. Well, Scholar, that I will : and I will hide 
nothing from you that I can remember, and can think 
may help you forward towards a perfection in this art. 
And because we have so much time, and I have said 
so little of Roach and Dace, I will give you some di- 
rections concerning them. 

Some say the Roach is so called from rutilus, which, 
they say, signifies red fins. He is a fish of no great 
reputation for his dainty taste ; and his spawn is ac- 
counted much better than any other part of him. 
And you may take notice, that, as the Carp is ac- 
counted the water-fox for his cunning, so the Roach 
is accounted the water-sheep for his simplicity or fool- 
ishness. It is noted that the Roach and Dace recover 
strength, and grow in season in a fortnight after spawn- 
ing : the Barbel and Chub in a month ; the Trout in 
four months ; and the Salmon in the like time, if he 
gets into the sea, and after into fresh water. 

Roaches be accounted much better in the river than 
in a pond, though ponds usually breed the biggest. 
But there is a kind of bastard small Roach that 



Chap. XVII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



249 



breeds in ponds, with a very forked tail, and of a very 
small size, which some say is bred by the Bream and 
right Roach, and some ponds are stored with these 
beyond belief; and knowing men that know their dif- 
ference call them Ruds : they differ from the true 
Roach as much as a Herring from a Pilchard. And 
these bastard breed of Roach are now scattered in 
many rivers, but I think not in the Thames, which I 
believe affords the largest and fattest in this nation, 
especially below London Bridge. The Roach is a 
leather-mouthed fish, and has a kind of saw-like teeth 
in his throat. And lastly, let me tell you, the Roach 
makes an Angler excellent sport, especially the great 
Roaches about London, where I think there be the 
best Roach-Anglers ; and I think the best Trout-An- 
glers be in Derbyshire, for the waters there are clear 
to an extremity. 

Next, let me tell you, you shall fish for this Roach in 



t 







25Q THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

winter with paste or gentles ; in April, with worms or 
cadis ; in the very hot months, with little white snails, 
or with flies under water, for he seldom takes them at 
the top, though the Dace will. In many of the hot 
months, Roaches may also be caught thus : take a 
May-fly or Ant-fly, sink him with a little lead to the 
bottom near to the piles or posts of a bridge, or near 
to any posts of a weir, 1 mean any deep place where 
Roaches lie quietly, and then pull your fly up very 
leisurely, and usually a Roach will follow your bait to 
the very top of the water, and gaze on it there, and run 
at it and take it lest the fly should fly away from him. 
I have seen this done at Windsor and Henley 
Bridge, and great store of Roach taken ; and some- 
times a Dace or Chub. And in August you may fish 
for them with a paste made only of the crumbs of 
bread, which should be of pure fine manchet ; and 
that paste must be so tempered betwixt your hands till 
it be both soft and tough too : a very little water, and 
time and labor, and clean hands, will make it a most 
excellent paste. But when you fish with it, you must 
have a small hook, a quick eye, and a nimble hand, 
or the bait is lost and the fish too ; if one may lose 
that which he never had. With this paste you may, 
as I said, take both the Roach and the Dace or DARE, 




Chap. XVII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 25 1 

for they be much of a kind, in matter of feeding, cun- 
ning, goodness, and usually in size. And therefore 
take this general direction for some other baits which 
may concern you to take notice of. They will bite al- 
most at any fly, but especially at Ant-flies ; concern- 
ing which take this direction, for it is very good. 

Take the blackish Ant-fly out of the mole-hill or 
ant-hill, in which place you shall find them in the 
month of June ; or, if that be too early in the year, 
then doubtless you may find them in July, August, and 
most of September. Gather them alive, with both 
their wings, and then put them into a glass that will 
hold a quart or a pottle : but first put into the glass a 
handful, or more, of the moist earth out of which you 
gather them, and as much of the roots of the grass of 
the said hillock ; and then put in the flies gently, that 
they lose not their wings : lay a clod of earth over it, 
and then so many as are put into the glass without 
bruising will live there a month or more, and be al- 
ways in a readiness for you to fish with : but if you 
would have them keep longer, then get any great 
earthen pot, or barrel of three or four gallons, which 
is better, then wash your barrel with water and honey ; 
and having put into it a quantity of earth and grass- 
roots, then put in your flies, and cover it, and they will 
live a quarter of a year. These, in any stream and 
clear water, are a deadly bait for Roach or Dace, or 
for a Chub ; and your rule is, to fish not less than a 
handful from the bottom. 

I shall next tell you a winter-bait for a Roach, a 
Dace, or Chub ; and it is choicely good. About All- 



252 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

hallontide, and so till frost comes, when you see men 
ploughing up heath-ground, or sandy ground, or green- 
swards, then follow the plough, and you shall find a 
white worm as big as two maggots, and it hath a red 
head ; you may observe in what ground most are, for 
there the crows will be very watchful and follow the 
plough very close ; it is all soft, and full of whitish 
guts : a worm that is in Norfolk, and some' other coun- 
ties, called a Grub, and is bred of the spawn or eggs 
of a beetle, which she leaves in holes that she digs in 
the ground under cow or horse dung, and there rests 
all winter, and in March or April comes to be, first a 
red, and then a black beetle : gather a thousand or 
two of these, and put them, with a peck or two of their 
own earth, into some tub or firkin, and cover and keep 
them so warm that the frost or cold air or winds kill 
them not: these you may keep all winter, and kill fish 
with them at any time ; and if you put some of them 
into a little earth and honey a' day before you use 
them, you will find them an excellent bait for Bream, 
Carp, or indeed for almost any fish. 

And after this manner you may also keep gentles all 
winter, which are a good bait then, and much the bet- 
ter for being lively and tough. Or you may breed and 
keep gentles thus : take a piece of beast's liver, and 
with a cross-stick hang it in some corner over a 
pot or barrel, half full of dry clay ; and as the gentles 
grow big, they will fall into the barrel, and scour them- 
selves, and be always ready for use whensoever you 
incline to fish ; and these gentles may be thus created 
till after Michaelmas. But if you desire to keep gen- 



Chap. XVII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 253 

ties to fish with all the year, then get a dead cat or a 
kite, and let it be fly-blown ; and when the gentles be- 
gin to be alive and to stir, then bury it and them in 
soft, moist earth, but as free from frost as you can, and 
these you may dig up at any time when you intend to 
use them : these will last till March, and about that 
time turn to be flies. 

But if you be nice to foul your fingers, which good 
Anglers seldom are, then take this bait : get a handful 
of well-made malt, and put it into a dish of water, and 
then wash and rub it betwixt your hands till you make 
it clean, and as free from husks as you can ; then put 
that water from it, and put a small quantity of fresh 
water to it, and set it in something that is fit for that 
purpose over the fire, where it is not to boil apace, but 
leisurely and very softly, until it become somewhat 
soft, which you may try by feeling it betwixt your fin- 
ger and thumb ; and when it is soft, then put your 
water from it : and then take a sharp knife, and, turn- 
ing the sprout-end of the corn upward, with the point 
of your knife take the back part of the husk off from 
it, and yet leaving a kind of inward husk on the corn, 
or else it is marred ; and then cut off that sprouted 
end, I mean a little of it, that the white may appear, 
and so pull off the husk on the cloven side, as I di- 
rected you ; and then cutting off a very little of the 
other end, that so your hook may enter ; and, if your 
hook be small and good, you will find this to be a 
very choice bait, either for winter or summer, you 
sometimes casting a little of it into the place where 
your float swims. 



2 54 ,JL ' HE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

And to take the Roach and Dace, a good bait is the 
young brood of wasps or bees, if you dip their heads 
in blood ; especially good for Bream, if they be baked 
or hardened in their husks in an oven, after the bread 
is taken out of it ; or hardened on a fire-shovel : and 
so also is the thick blood of sheep, being half dried on 
a trencher, that so you may cut it into such pieces as 
may best fit the size of your hook; anda little salt 
keeps it from growing black, and makes it not the 
worse, but better : this is taken to be a choice bait if 
rightly ordered. 

There be several oils of a strong smell that I have 
been told of, and to be excellent to tempt fish to 
bite, of which I could say much. But I remember I 
once carried a small bottle from Sir George Hastings 
to Sir Henry Wotton, they were both chemical men, 
as a great present : it was sent, and received, and 
used, with great confidence ; and yet, upon inquiry, I 
found it did not answer the expectation of Sir Henry ; 
which, with the help of this and other circumstances, 
makes me have little belief in such things as many 
men talk of.. Not but that I think fishes both smell 
and hear, as I have expressed in my former discourse : 
but there is a mysterious knack, which though it be 
much easier than the philosopher's stone, yet is not 
attainable by common capacities, or else lies locked up 
in the brain or breast of some chemical man, that, like 
the Rosicrucians, will not yet reveal it. But let me 
nevertheless tell you, that camphor, put with moss in- 
to, your worm-bag with your worms, makes them, if 
many Anglers be not very much mistaken, a tempting 



Chap. XVII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER, 255 

bait, and the Angler more fortunate. But I stepped 
by chance into this discourse of oils, and fishes smell- 
ing ; and though there might be more said, both of it 
and of baits for Roach and Dace, and other float- 
fish, yet I will forbear it at this time, and tell you in 
the next place how you are to prepare your tackling : 
concerning which, I will, for sport-sake, give you an 
old rhyme out of an old fish-book, which will prove a 
part, and but a part, of what you are to provide. 

" My rod and my line, my float and my lead, 

My hook and my plummet, my whetstone and knife, 
My basket, my baits both living and dead, 

My net and my meat, for that is the chief : 
Then I must have thread, and hairs green and small, 
With mine Angling-purse, and so you have all." 

But you must have all these tackling, and twice so 
many more, with which, if you mean to be a fisher, 
you must store yourself; and to that pur- 

t -n -4.1 •,!. 4. txt I have heard that 

pose I will go with you either to Mr. the tackling hath 
Margrave, who dwells amongst the book- n f t e y n pounds, in 
sellers in St. Paul's Churchyard, or to J^j^g ^* 
Mr. John Stubbs, near to the Swan in 
Golding Lane ; they be both honest men, and will fit 
an Angler with what tackling he lacks. 

Ven. Then, good Master, let it be at , for he 

is nearest to my dwelling, and I pray let 's meet there 
the 9th of May next about two of the clock ; -and I '11 
want nothing that a fisher should be furnished with. 

PiSC. Well, and I '11 not fail you, God willing, at the 
time and place appointed. 

Ven. I thank you, good Master, and I will not fail 



256 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

you. And, good Master, tell me what baits more you 
remember, for it will not now be long ere we shall be 
at Tottenham High Cross ; and when we come thither 
I will make you some requital of your pains, by re- 
peating as choice a copy of verses as any we have 
heard since we met together ; and that is a proud 
word, for we have heard very good ones. 

PlSC. Well, Scholar, and I shall be then right glad 
to hear them. And I will, as we walk, tell you what- 
soever comes in my mind, that I think may be worth 
your hearing. You may make another choice bait thus : 
Take a handful or two of the best and biggest wheat 
you can get ; boil it in a little milk, like as frumity is 
boiled ; boil it so till it be soft, and then fry it very leis- 
urely with honey and a little beaten saffron dissolved 
in milk ; and you will find this a choice bait, and good 
I think for any fish, especially for Roach, Dace, Chub, 
or Grayling : I know not but that it may be as good 
for a River-Carp, and especially if the ground be a 
little baited with it. 

And you may also note, that the spawn of most fish 
is a very tempting bait, being a little hardened on a 
warm tile, and cut into fit pieces. Nay, mulberries 
and those blackberries which grow upon briers be 
good baits for Chubs or Carps : with these many have 
been taken in ponds, and in some rivers where such 
trees have grown near the water, and the fruit custom- 
arily dropped into it. And there be a hundred other 
baits, more than can be well named ; which, by con- 
stant baiting the water, will become a tempting bait 
for any fish in it. 



Chap. XVII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 257 

You are also to know, that there be divers kinds of 
Cadis, or Case-worms, that are to be found in this 
nation in several distinct counties, and in several little 
brooks that relate to bigger rivers : as namely, one 
Cadis called a Piper, whose husk or case is a piece of 
reed about an inch long, or longer, and as big about 
as the compass of a two-pence. These worms being 
kept three or four days in a woollen bag with sand at 
the bottom of it, and the bag wet once a day, will in 
three or four days turn to be yellow ; and these be a 
choice bait for the Chub or Chavender, or indeed for 
any great fish, for it is a large bait. 

There is also a lesser Cadis-worm, called a Cock- 
spur, being in fashion like the spur of a cock, sharp at 
one end, and the case or house in which this dwells is 
made of small husks, and gravel, and slime, most 
curiously made of these, even so as to be wondered at ; 
but not to be made by man, no more than a kingfish- 
er's nest can, which is made of little fishes' bones, and 
have such a geometrical interweaving and connection, 
as the like is not to be done by the art of man. This 
kind of Cadis is a choice bait for any float-fish ; it is 
much less than the Piper-Cadis, and to be so ordered ; 
and these may be so preserved, ten, fifteen, or twenty 
days, or it may be longer. 

There is also another Cadis, called by some a 
Straw-worm, and by some a Ruff-coat ; whose house 
or case is made of little pieces of bents, and rushes, 
and straws, and water-weeds, and I know not what ; 
which are so knit together with condensed slime, that 
they stick about her husk or case, not unlike the bris- 

Q 



258 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

ties of a hedgehog. These three Cadises are com- 
monly taken in the beginning of summer ; and are 
good, indeed, to take any kind of fish, with float or 
otherwise. I might tell you of many more, which as 
these do early, so ihose have their time also of turning 
to be flies later in summer ; but I might lose myself 
and tire you by such a discourse. I shall, therefore, 
but remember you, that to know these and their sev- 
eral kinds, and to what flies every particular Cadis 
turns, and then how to use them, first as they be 
Cadis, and after as they be flies, is an art, and an art 
that every one that professes to be an Angler has not 
leisure to search after ; and, if he had, is not capable 
of learning. 

I '11 tell you, Scholar, several countries have several 
kinds of Cadises, that indeed differ as much as dogs 
do : that is to say, as much as a very cur and a grey- 
hound do. These be usually bred in the very little 
rills or ditches that run into bigger rivers ; and, I 
think, a more proper bait for those very rivers than 
any other. I know not, or of what, this Cadis receives 
life, or what colored fly it turns to ; but doubtless they 
are the death of many Trouts : and this is one killing 
way. 

Take one, or more if need be, of these large yellow 
Cadis : pull off his head, and with it pull out his black 
gut ; put the body, as little bruised as is possible, on 
a very little hook, armed on with a red hair, which will 
show like the Cadis-head ; and a very little thin lead, 
so put upon the shank of the hook that it may sink 
presently. Throw this bait, thus ordered, which will 



Chap. XVII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 259 

look very yellow, into any great still hole where a Trout 
is, and he will presently venture his life for it, 't is not 
to be doubted, if you be not espied ; and that the bait 
first touch the water, before the line : and this will do 
best in the deepest, stillest water. 

Next let me tell you, I have been much pleased to 
walk quietly by a brook with a little stick in my hand, 
with which I might easily take these and consider the 
curiosity of their composure : and if you shall ever 
like to do so, then note that your stick must be a little 
hazel or willow, cleft, or have a nick at one end of it, 
by which means you may with ease take many of 
them in that nick out of the water, before you have 
any occasion to use them. These, my honest Scholar, 
are some observations told to you as they now come 
suddenly into my memory, of which you may make 
some use : but for the practical part, it is that that 
makes an Angler : it is diligence, and observation, and 
practice, and an ambition to be the best in the art, that 
must do it. I will tell you, Scholar, I once heard one 
say, " I envy not him that eats better meat than I do, 
nor him that is licher, or that wears better clothes 
than I do : I envy nobody but him, and him only, that 
catches more fish than I do." And such a man is like 
to prove an Angler ; and this noble emulation I wish 
to you and all young Anglers. 



260 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 




THE FIFTH DAY. 

Chap. XVIII. — Of the Minnow or Penk, of the Loach, 
and of the Bull-Head, or Miller's-Thumb. 



PlSCATOR. 

r I ''HERE be also three or four other little fish that 
I had almost forgot, that all are without scales ; 
and may, for excellency of meat, be compared to any 
fish of greatest value and largest size. They be 
usually full of eggs or spawn all the months of sum- 
mer ; for they breed often, as t is observed mice and 
many of the smaller four-footed creatures of the earth 
do ; and as those, so these come quickly to their full 
growth and perfection. And it is needful that they 
breed both often and numerously ; for they be, besides 
other accidents of ruin, both a prey and baits for 



Chap. XVIII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



261 



other fish. And first I shall tell you of the Minnow 
or Penk. 




The Minnow hath, when he is in perfect season and 
not sick, which is only presently after spawning, — a 
kind of dappled or waved color, like to a panther, on his 
sides, inclining to a greenish and sky-color, his belly 
being milk-white, and his back almost black or black- 
ish. He is a sharp biter at a small worm, and in hot 
weather makes excellent sport for young Anglers, or 
boys, or women that love that recreation. And in the 
spring they make of them excellent Minnow -Tansies ; 
for, being washed well in salt, and their heads and 
tails cut off, and their guts taken out, and not washed 
after, — they prove excellent for that use ; that is, be- 
ing fried with yolks of eggs, the flowers of cowslips, 



262 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

and of primroses, and a little tansy ; thus used they 
make a dainty dish of meat. 

The Loach is, as I told you, a most dainty fish : he 
breeds and feeds in little and clear swift brooks, or 
rills, and lives there upon the gravel, and in the sharp- 
est streams : he grows not to be above a finger long, 
and no thicker than is suitable to that length. This 
Loach is not unlike the shape of the Eel : he has a 
beard or wattles like a Barbel. He has two fins at his 
sides, four at his belly, and one at his tail ; he is dap- 
pled with many black or brown spots ; his mouth is 
Barbel-like under his nose. This fish is usually full 
of eggs or spawn, and is by Gesner, and other learned 
physicians, commended for great nourishment, and to 
be very grateful both to the palate and stomach of 
sick persons. He is to be fished for with a very small 
worm at the bottom ; for he very seldom or never 
rises above the gravel, on which, I told you, he usually 
gets his living. 

The MiLLER'S-THUMB or BULL-HEAD, is a fish of 
no pleasing shape. He is by Gesner compared to the 
Sea-toad-fish, for his similitude and shape. It has a 
head, big and fiat, much greater than suitable to his 
body ; a mouth very wide and usually gaping. He is 
without teeth, but his lips are very rough, much like to 
a file. He hath two fins near to his gills, which be 
roundish or crested ; two fins also under the belly ; 
two on the back ; one below the vent ; and the fin of 
his tail is round. Nature hath painted the body of 
this fish with whitish, blackish, brownish spots. They 
be usually full of eggs or spawn all the summer, I 



CiiAr. XVIII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 263 

mean the females ; and those eggs swell their vents 
almost into the form of a dug. They begin to spawn 
about April, and, as I told you, spawn several months 
in the summer. And in the winter the Minnow, and 
Loach, and Bull-Head dwell in the mud, as the Eel 
doth, or we know not where ; no more than we know 
where the cuckoo and swallow, and other half-year 
birds, which first appear to us in April, spend their 
six cold, winter, melancholy months. This Bull-Head 
does usually dwell and hide himself in holes, or 
amongst stones, in clear water : and in very hot days 
will lie a long time very still, and sun himself, and will 
be easy to be seen upon any flat stone, or any gravel ; 
at which time he will suffer an Angler to put a hook 
baited with a small worm very near unto his very 
mouth : and he never refuses to bite, nor indeed to be 
caught with the worst of Anglers. Matthiolus com- 
mends him much more for his taste and nourishment 
than for his shape or beauty. 

There is also a little fish called a STICKLEBAG : a 
fish without scales, but hath his body fenced with sev- 
eral prickles. I know not where he dwells in winter, 
nor what he is good for in summer, but only to make 
sport for boys and women-anglers, and to feed other 
fish that be fish of prey, as Trouts in particular, who 
will bite at him as at a Penk ; and better, if your hook 
be rightly baited with him : for he may be so baited 
as, his tail turning like the sail of a windmill, will make 
him turn more quick than any Penk or Minnow can. 
For note, that the nimble turning of that, or the Min- 
now, is the perfection of Minnow fishing. To which 



264 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

end, if you put your hook into his mouth, and out at 
his tail ; and then, having first tied him with white 
thread a little above his tail, and placed him after 
such a manner on your hook as he is like to turn, then 
sew up his mouth to your line, and he is like to turn 
quick, and tempt any Trout : but if he does not turn 
quick, then turn his tail a little more or less towards 
the inner part, or towards the side of the hook ; or 
put the Minnow or Sticklebag a little more crooked or 
more straight on your hook, until it will turn both true 
and fast : and then doubt not but to tempt any great 
Trout that lies in a swift stream. And the Loach that 
I told you of will do the like : no bait is more tempt- 
ing, provided the Loach be not too big. 

And now, Scholar, with the help of this fine morn- 
ing, and your patient attention, I have said all that 
my present memory will afford me concerning most 
of the several fish that are usually fished for in fresh 
waters. 

Ven. But, Master, you have, by your former civil- 
ity, made me hope that you will make good your prom- 
ise, and say something of the several rivers that be - 
of most note in this nation ; and also of fish-ponds, 
and the ordering of them: and do it, I pray, good 
Master, for I love any discourse of rivers, and fish and 
fishing : the time spent in such discourse passes away 
very pleasantly. 



Chap. XIX.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



265 




THE FIFTH DAY 



Chap. XIX. 



Of several Rivers, and some Observations of 
Fish. 



PlSCATOR. 

~\ \ 7"ELL, Scholar, since the ways and weather do 
* both favor us, and that we yet see not Totten- 
ham Cross, you shall see my willingness to satisfy 
your desire. And, first, for the rivers of this nation : 
there be, as you may note out of Doctor Heylin's 
Geography and others, in number three hundred and 
twenty-five ; but those of chiefest note he reckons 
and describes as followeth. 



266 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

The chief is Thamisis, compounded of two rivers, 
Thame and Isis ; whereof the former, rising some- 
what beyond Thame in Buckinghamshire, and the lat- 
ter near Cirencester in Gloucestershire, meet together 
about Dorchester in Oxfordshire ; the issue of which 
happy conjunction is the Thamisis, or Thames. Hence 
it flieth betwixt Berks, Buckinghamshire, Middlesex, 
Surrey, Kent, and Essex, and so weddeth himself to 
the Kentish Medway in the very jaws of the ocean. 
This glorious river feeleth the violence and benefit of 
the sea more than any river in Europe ; ebbing and 
flowing twice a day more than sixty miles : about 
whose banks are so many fair towns, and princely 
palaces, that a German poet thus truly spake : — 

"Tot campos, etc. 

" We saw so many woods and princely bowers, 
Sweet fields, brave palaces, and stately towers, 
So many gardens, dressed with curious care, 
That Thames with royal Tiber may compare." 

2. The second river of note is Sabrina or Sev- 
ern. It hath its beginning in Plinlimmon Hill in 
Montgomeryshire, and his end seven miles from 
Bristol ; washing, in the mean space, the walls of 
Shrewsbury, Worcester, and Gloucester, and divers 
other places and palaces of note. 

3. Trent, so called from thirty kind of fishes that 
are found in it, or for that it receiveth thirty lesser 
rivers ; who, having his fountain in Staffordshire, and 
gliding through the counties of Nottingham, Lincoln, 
Leicester, and York, augmenteth the turbulent current 



Chap. XIX.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 267 

of H umber, the most violent stream of all the isle. 
This Humber is not, to say truth, a distinct river, hav- 
ing a spring-head of his own, but it is rather the 
mouth, or oestuarium, of divers rivers here confluent 
and meeting together : namely, your Derwent, and 
especially of Ouse and Trent ; and (as the Danow, 
having received into its channel the rivers Dravus, 
Savus, Tibiscus, and divers others) changeth his name 
into this of Humberabus, as the old geographers call it. 

4. Medway, a Kentish river, famous for harboring 
the royal navy. 

5. Tweed, the northeast bound of England, on 
whose northern banks is seated the strong and im- 
pregnable town of Berwick. 

6. Tyne, famous for Newcastle, and her inexhaust- 
ible coal-pits. These, and the rest of principal note, are 
thus comprehended in one of Mr. Drayton's Sonnets. 

" Our floods' queen, Thames, for ships and swans is crowned ; 

And stately Severn for her shore is praised ; 
The crystal Trent for fords and fish renowned ; 

And Avon's fame to Albion's cliffs is raised. 
Carlegion-Chester vaunts her holy Dee ; 

York many wonders of her Ouse can tell ; 
The Peak her Dove, whose banks so fertile be, 

And Kent will say her Medway doth excel. 
Cotswold commends her Isis to the Thame ; 

Our northern borders boast of Tweed's fair flood ; 
Our western parts extol their Willy's fame, 

And the old Lea brags of the Danish blood." 

These observations are out of learned Dr. Heylin, 
and my old deceased friend, Michael Drayton ; and 
because you say you love such discourses as these of 



268 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

rivers and tish and fishing, I love you the better, and 
love the more to impart them to you : nevertheless, 
Scholar, if I should begin but to name the several 
sorts of strange fish that are usually taken in many of 
those rivers that run into the sea, 1 might beget won- 
der in you, or unbelief, or both : and yet I will venture 
to tell you a real truth concerning one lately dissected 
by Dr. Wharton, a man of great learning and experi- 
ence, and of equal freedom to communicate it ; one 
that loves me and my art ; one to whom I have been 
beholden for many of the choicest observations that I 
have imparted to you. This good man, that dares do 
anything rather than tell an untruth, did, I say, tell 
me he lately dissected one strange fish, and he thus 
described it to me. 

" The fish was almost a yard broad, and twice that 
length ; his mouth wide enough to receive or take into 
it the head of a man ; his stomach seven or eight 
inches broad. He is of a slow motion, and usually lies 
or lurks close in the mud, and has a movable string 
on his head about a span, or near unto a quarter of a 
yard long, by the moving of which, which is his natural 
bait, when he lies close and unseen in the mud, he 
draws other smaller fish so close to him that he can 
suck them into his mouth, and so devours and digests 
them." 

And, Scholar, do not wonder at this, for, besides the 
credit of the relator, you are to note, many of these, 
and fishes which are of the like and more unusual 
shapes, are very often taken on the mouths of our 
sea-rivers, and on the sea-shore. And this will be no 



Char XIX.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



269 



wonder to any that have travelled Egypt ; where 't is 
known the famous river Nilus does not only breed 
fishes that yet want names, but, by the overflowing of 
that river, and the help of the sun's heat on the fat 
slime which that river leaves on the banks, when it 
falls back into its natural channel, such strange fish 
and beasts are also bred, that no man can give a 
name to, as Grotius, in his " Sophom," and others, 
have observed. 

But whither am I strayed in this discourse ? I will 
end it by telling you, that at the mouth of some of 
these rivers of ours Herrings are so plentiful, as 
namely, near to Yarmouth in Norfolk, and in the 
West-country Pilchers so very plentiful, as you will 
wonder to read what our learned Camden relates of 
them in his " Britannia," pp. 178, 186. 

Well, Scholar, I will stop here, and tell you what by 
reading and conference I have observed concerning 
fish ponds. 




270 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

THE FIFTH DAY. 

Chap. XX. — Of Fish- Ponds, and how to order them. 

PlSCATOR. 

T^OCTOR Lebault, the learned Frenchman, in his 
^-^ large discourse of Maison Rustique, gives this 
direction for making of fish-ponds. I shall refer you 
to him to read it at large ; but I think I shall contract 
it, and yet make it as useful. 

He adviseth, that when you have drained the ground, 
and made the earth firm where the head of the pond 
must be, that you must then, in that place, drive in 
two or three rows of oak or elm piles, which should be 
scorched in the fire, or half burnt, before they be 
driven into the earth ; for being thus used it preserves 
them much longer from rotting. And having done so, 
lay fagots or bavins of smaller wood betwixt them ; and 
then earth betwixt and above them : and then, having 
first very well rammed them and the earth, use an- 
other pile in like manner as the first were : and note, 
that the second pile is to be of or about the height 
that you intend to make your sluice or flood-gate, or 
the vent that you intend shall convey the overflowings 
of your pond, in any flood that shall endanger the 
breaking of the pond-dam. 

Then he advises that you plant willows or owlers 
about it, or both : and then cast in bavins in some 
places not far from the side, and in the most sandy 
places, for fish both to spawn upon, and to defend 



Chat. XX.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 27 1 

them and the young fry from the many fish, and also 
from vermin, that lie at watch to destroy them ; es- 
pecially the spawn of the Carp and Tench, when 't is 
left to the mercy of ducks or vermin. 

He, and Dubravius, and all others, advise, that you 
make choice of such a place for your pond, that it 
may be refreshed with a little rill, or with rain-water 
running or falling into it ; by which fish are more in- 
clined both to breed, and are also refreshed and fed 
the better, and do prove to be of a much sweeter and 
more pleasant taste. 

To which end it is observed, that such pools as be 
large, and have most gravel, and shallows where fish 
may sport themselves, do afford fish of the purest 
taste. And note, that in all pools it is best for fish to 
have some retiring-place ; as namely, hollow banks, or 
shelves, or roots of trees, to keep them from danger ; 
and, when they think fit, from the extreme heat of 
summer ; as also from the extremity of cold in winter. 
And note, that if many trees be growing about your 
pond, the leaves thereof falling into the water make 
it nauseous to the fish, and the fish to be so to the 
eater of it. 

'T is noted that the Tench and Eel love mud, and 
the Carp loves gravelly ground, and in the hot months 
to feed on grass. You are to cleanse your pond, if 
you intend either profit or pleasure, once every three 
or four years, especially some ponds, and then let it 
lie dry six or twelve months, both to kill the water- 
weeds, as water-lilies, candocks, reate, and bulrushes, 
that breed there : and also, that as these die for want 



272 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

of water, so grass may grow in the pond's bottom, 
which Carps will eat greedily in all the hot months if 
the pond be clean. The letting your pond dry and 
sowing oats in the bottom is also good, for the fish 
feed the faster : and, being some time let dry, you may 
observe what kind of fish either increases or thrives 
best in that water ; for they differ much both in their 
breeding and feeding. 

Lebault also advises, that if your ponds be not very 
large and roomy, that you often feed your fish by 
throwing into them chippings of bread, curds, grains, 
or the entrails of chickens, or of any fowl or beast 
that you kill to feed yourselves ; for these afford fish a 
great relief. He says that frogs and ducks do much 
harm, and devour both the spawn and the young fry 
of all fish, especially of the Carp ; and I have, besides 
experience, many testimonies of it. But Lebault al- 
lows water-frogs to be good meat, especially in some 
months, if they be fat ; but you are to note, that he is 
a Frenchman, and we English will hardly believe him, 
though we know frogs are usually eaten in his country ; 
however, he advises to destroy them and kingfishers 
out of your ponds. And he advises not to suffer much 
shooting at wild-fowl ; for that, he says, affrightens, 
and harms, and destroys, the fish. 

Note, that Carps and Tench thrive and breed best 
when no other fish is put with them into the same 
pond ; for all other fish devour their spawn, or at 
least the greatest part of it. And note, that clods of 
grass thrown into any pond feed any Carps in sum- 
mer ; and that garden-earth and parsley thrown into a 



Chap. XX] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 273 

pond recovers and refreshes the sick fish. And note, 
that when you store your pond, you are to put into it 
two or three melters for one spawner, if you put them 
into a breeding-pond ; but if into a nurse-pond, or 
feeding-pond, in which they will not breed, then no 
care is to be taken whether there be most male or 
female Carps. 

It is observed that the best ponds to breed Carps 
are those that be stony or sandy, and are warm and 
free from wind ; and that are not deep, but have wil- 
low-trees, and grass on their sides, over which the 
water does sometimes flow : and note, that Carps do 
more usually breed in marle-pits, or pits that have 
clean clay-bottoms, or in new* ponds, or ponds that lie 
dry a winter-season, than in old ponds that be full of 
mud and weeds. 

Well, Scholar, 1 have told you the substance of all 
that either observation or discourse, or a diligent sur- 
vey of Dubravius and Lebault hath told me: not that 
they, in their long discourses, have not said more ; 
but the most of the rest are so common observations, 
as if a man should tell a good arithmetician, that 
twice two is four. I will therefore put an end to this 
discourse, and we will here sit down and rest us. 



274 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part 




THE FIFTH DAY. 



Chap. XXI. — Directions for making of a Line, and for the 
coloring of both Rod and Line. 

PlSCATOR. 

\\ TELL, Scholar, I have held you too long about 
* * these cadis, and smaller fish, and rivers, and 
fish-ponds ; and my spirits are almost spent, and so I 
doubt is your patience ; but being we are now almost 
at Tottenham, where I first met you, and where we are 
to part, I will lose no time, but give you a little direc- 
tion how to make and order your lines, and to color 
the hair of which you make your lines, for that is very 
needful to be known of an Angler ; and also how to 



Chap. XXL] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 275 

paint your rod, especially your top ; for a right-grown 
top is a choice commodity, and should be preserved 
from the water soaking into it, which makes it in wet 
weather to be heavy, and fish ill-favoredly, and not 
true ; and also it rots quickly for want of painting : 
and I think a good top is worth preserving, or I had 
not taken care to keep a top above twenty years. 

But first for your line. First, note, that you are to 
take care that your hair be round and clear, and free 
from galls, or scabs, or frets ; for a well-chosen, even, 
clear, round hair, of a kind of glass-color, will prove 
as strong as three uneven, scabby hairs, that are ill- 
chosen, and full of galls or unevenness. You shall 
seldom find a black hair but it is round, but many 
white are flat and uneven ; therefore if you get a lock 
of right, round, clear, glass-color hair, make much 
of it. 

And for making your line, observe this rule : first let 
your hair be clean washed ere you go about to twist 
it ; and then choose not only the clearest hair for it, 
but hairs that be of an equal bigness, for such do 
usually stretch all together, and break all together, 
which hairs of an unequal bigness never do, but 
break singly, and so deceive the Angler that trusts 
to them. 

When you have twisted your links, lay them in 
water for a quarter of an hour at least, and then twist 
them over again before you tie them into a line ; for 
those that do not so, shall usually find their line to 
have a hair or two shrink, and be shorter than the 
rest at the first fishing with it ; which is so much of 



276 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part i. 

the strength of the line lost for want of first watering 
it and then re-twisting it ; and this is most visible in 
a seven-hair line, one of those which hath always a 
black hair in the middle. 

And for dyeing of your hairs, do it thus. Take a 
pint of strong ale, half a pound of soot, and a little 
quantity of the juice of walnut-tree leaves, and an 
equal quantity of alum ; put these together into a pot, 
pan, or pipkin, and boil them half an hour ; and hav- 
ing so done, let it cool ; and being cold, put your hair 
into it, and there let it lie : it will turn your hair to be 
a kind of water or glass-color, or greenish ; and the 
longer you let it lie, the deeper colored it will be. You 
might be taught to make many other colors, but it is 
to little purpose ; for doubtless the water-color or 
glass-colored hair is the most choice and most useful 
for an Angler ; but let it not be too green. 

But if you desire to color hair greener, then do it 
thus. Take a quart of small ale, half a pound of 
alum ; then put these into a pan or pipkin, and your 
hair into it with them ; then put it upon a fire, and let 
it boil softly for half an hour ; and then take out your 
hair, and let it dry ; and, having so done, then take a 
pottle of water, and put into it two handfuls of mari- 
golds, and cover it with a tile, or what you think fit, 
and set it again on the fire, where it is to boil again 
softly for half an hour, about which time the scum 
will turn yellow ; then put into it half a pound of cop- 
peras, beaten small, and with it the hair that you in- 
tend to color ; then let the hair be boiled softly till 
half the liquor be wasted ; and then let it cool three 



Chap. XXI.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 277 

or four hours, with your hair in it : and you are to ob- 
serve, that the more copperas you put into it, the 
greener it will be ; but doubtless the pale green is 
best. But if you desire yellow hair, which is only 
good when the weeds rot, then put in the more mari- 
golds ; and abate most of the copperas, or leave it 
quite out, and take a little verdigris instead of it. 
This for coloring your hair. 

And as for painting your rod, which must be in oil, 
you must first make a size with glue and water boiled 
together until the glue be dissolved, and the size of a 
lye-color ; then strike your size upon the wood with a 
bristle, or a brush, or pencil, whilst it is hot. That 
being quite dry, take white lead, and a little red lead, 
and a little coal-black, so much as all together will 
make an ash-color ; grind these all together with lin- 
seed-oil ; let it be thick, and lay it thin upon the wood 
with a brush or pencil : this do for the ground of any 
color to lie upon wood. 

For a green : Take pink and verdigris, and grind 
them together in linseed-oil, as thin as you can well 
grind it ; then lay it smoothly on with your brush, and 
drive it thin : once doing, for the most part, will serve, 
if you lay it well ; and if twice, be sure your first color 
be thoroughly dry before you lay on a second. 

Well, Scholar, having now taught you to paint your 
rod, and we having still a mile to Tottenham-High- 
Cross, I will, as we walk towards it, in the cool shade 
of this sweet honeysuckle hedge, mention to you some 
of the thoughts and joys that have possessed my soul 
since we two met together. And these thoughts shall 



278 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

be told you, that you also may join with me in thank- 
fulness, to " the Giver of every good and perfect gift," 
for our happiness. And, that our present happiness 
may appear to be-the greater, and we the more thank- 
ful for it, I will beg you to consider with me, how 
many do, even at this very time, lie under the torment 
of the stone, the gout, and toothache ; and this we are 
free from. And every misery that I miss is a new 
mercy ; and therefore let us be thankful. There have 
been, since we met, others that have met disasters of 
broken limbs ; some have been blasted, others thun- 
der-strucken ; and we have been freed from these, and 
all those many other miseries that threaten human 
nature : let us therefore rejoice and be thankful. Nay, 
which is a far greater mercy, we are free from the 
unsupportable burden of an accusing, tormenting con- 
science, — a misery that none can bear : and therefore 
let us praise Him for His preventing grace, and say, 
Every misery that I miss is a new mercy. Nay, let 
me tell you, there be many that have forty times our 
estates, that would give the greatest part of it to be 
healthful and cheerful like us ; who, with the expense 
of a little money have eat and drank, and laughed, and 
angled, and sung, and slept securely ; and rose next day, 
and cast away care, and sung, and laughed, and angled 
again ; which are blessings rich men cannot purchase 
with all their money. Let me tell you, Scholar, I have 
a rich neighbor, that is always so busy that he has no 
leisure to laugh : the whole business of his life is to get 
money, and more money, that he may still get more 
and more money ; he is still drudging on, and says, 



Chap. XXI. j THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 279 

that Solomon says, "The diligent hand raaketh rich " ; 
and is it true indeed : but he considers not that 't is 
not in the power of riches to make a man happy ; for 
it was wisely said, by a man of great observation, 
" That there be as many miseries beyond riches, as on 
this side them." And yet God deliver us from pinch- 
ing poverty ; and grant that, having a competency, we 
may be content and thankful. Let not us repine, or 
so much as think the gifts of God unequally dealt, if 
we see another abound with riches ; when, as God 
knows, the cares that are the keys that keep those 
riches, hang often so heavily at the rich man's girdle, 
that they clog him with weary days, and restless nights, 
even when others sleep quietly. We see but the out- 
side of the rich man's happiness : few consider him 
to be like the silkworm, that, when she seems to play, 
is, at the very same time, spinning her own bowels, 
and consuming herself. And this many rich men do ; 
loading themselves with corroding cares, to keep what 
they have, probably, unconscionably got. Let us, 
therefore, be thankful for health and a competence, 
and above all, for a quiet conscience. 

Let me tell you, Scholar, that Diogenes walked on a 
day, with his friend, to see a country-fair ; where he 
saw ribbons, and looking-glasses, and nut-crackers, 
and fiddles, and hobby-horses, and many other gim- 
cracks ; and having observed them, and all the other 
nnnimbmns that make a complete country-fair, he 
said to his friend, " Lord ! How many things are there 
in this world, of which Diogenes hath no need ! " 
And truly it is so, or might be so, with very many 



250 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

who vex and toil themselves to get what they have no 
need of. Can any man charge God, that he hath not 
given him enough to make his life happy? No, doubt- 
less ; for nature is content with a little. And yet you 
shall hardly meet with a man that complains not of 
some want ; though he, indeed, wants nothing but his 
will, it may be, nothing but his will of his poor neigh- 
bor, for not worshipping, or not flattering him : and 
thus, when we might be happy and quiet, we create 
trouble to ourselves. I have heard of a man that was 
angry with himself because he was no taller ; and of a 
woman that broke her looking-glass because it would 
not show her face to be as young and handsome as 
her next neighbors was. And I knew another, to 
whom God had given health, and plenty ; but a wife, 
that nature had made peevish, and her husband's 
riches had made purse-proud, and must, because she 
was rich, and for no other virtue, sit in the highest 
pew in the church ; which being denied her, she en- 
gaged her husband into a contention for it ; and, at 
last, into a lawsuit with a dogged neighbor, who was 
as rich as he, and had a wife as peevish and purse- 
proud as the other : and this lawsuit begot higher 
oppositions, and actionable words, and more vexations 
and lawsuits ; for you must remember, that both were 
rich, and must therefore have their wills. Well, this 
wilful, purse-proud lawsuit lasted during the life of 
the first husband ; after which his wife vexed and chid, 
and chid and vexed, till she also chid and vexed her- 
self into her grave : and so the wealth of these poor 
rich people was curst into a punishment ; because 



Chap. XXI.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 28.I 

they wanted meek and thankful hearts ; for those only 
can make us happy. I knew a man that had health 
and riches, and several houses, all beautiful and ready 
furnished, and would often trouble himself and family 
to be removing from one house to another ; and being 
asked by a friend, why he removed so often from one 
house to another, replied, "It was to find content in 
some one of them." But his friend, knowing his tem- 
per, told him, " If he would find content in any of his 
houses, he must leave himself behind him ; for content 
will never dwell but in a meek and quiet soul." And 
this may appear, if we read and consider what our Sav- 
iour says in St. Matthew's Gospel : for he there says, 
" Blessed be the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. 
Blessed be the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 
Blessed be the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom 
of heaven. And, Blessed be the meek, for they shall 
possess the earth." Not that the meek shall not also 
obtain mercy, and see God, and be comforted, and at 
last come to the kingdom of heaven ; but in the mean 
time he, and he only, possesses the earth as he goes 
toward that kingdom of heaven, by being humble and 
cheerful, and content with what his good God has 
allotted him. He has no turbulent, repining, vexatious 
thoughts, that he deserves better ; nor is vexed when 
he sees others possessed of more honor, or more 
riches than his wise God has allotted for his share ; 
but he possesses what he has with a meek and con- 
tented quietness ; such a quietness as makes his very 
dreams pleasing both to God and himself. 

My honest Scholar, all this is told to incline you to 



282 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

thankfulness ; and to incline you the more, let me tell 
you, that though the prophet David was guilty of mur- 
der and adultery, and many other of the most deadly 
sins, yet he was said to be a man after God's own 
heart, because he abounded more with thankfulness 
than any other that is mentioned in Holy Scripture, 
as may appear in his book of Psalms ; where there is 
such a commixture of his confessing of his sins and 
unworthiness, and such thankfulness for God's pardon 
and mercies, as did make him to be accounted, even 
by God himself, to be a man after his own heart : and 
let us in that, labor to be as like him as we can ; let 
not the blessings we receive daily from God make us 
not to value, or not praise Him, because they be com- 
mon : let not us forget to praise Him for the innocent 
mirth and pleasure we have met with since we met 
together. What would a blind man give to see the 
pleasant rivers, and meadows, and flowers, and foun- 
tains, that we have met with since we met together? 
I have been told, that if a man that was born blind 
could obtain to have his sight for but only one hour 
during his whole life, and should, at the first opening 
of his eyes, fix his sight upon the sun when it was in 
his full glory, either at the rising or setting of it, he 
would be so transported and amazed, and so admire 
the glory of it, that he would not willingly turn his 
eyes from that first ravishing object, to behold all the 
other various beauties this world could present to him. 
And this, and many other like blessings, we enjoy 
daily. And for most of them, because they be so 
common, most men forget to pay their praises ; but 



Chap. XXI.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 283 

let not us ; because it is a sacrifice so pleasing to Him 
that made that sun, and us, and still protects us, and 
gives us flowers, and showers, and stomachs, and 
meat, and content, and leisure to go a-fishing. 

Well, Scholar, I have almost tired myself, and, I 
fear, more than almost tired you. But I now see 
Tottenham High-Cross ; and our short walk thither 
shall put a period to my too long discourse ; in which 
my meaning was, and is, to plant that in your mind, 
with which I labor to possess my own soul, that is, a 
meek and thankful heart. And to that end I have 
showed you, that riches without them do not make 
any man happy. But let me tell you, that riches with 
them remove many fears and cares ; and therefore my 
advice is, that you endeavor to be honestly rich, or 
contentedly poor; but be sure that your riches be 
justly got, or you spoil all. For it is well said by 
Caussin, "He that loses his conscience has nothing 
left that is worth keeping." Therefore be sure you 
look to that. And, in the next place, look to your 
health: and if you have it, praise God, and value it 
next to a good conscience ; for health is the second 
blessing that we mortals are capable of; a blessing 
that money cannot buy ; and therefore value it, and 
be thankful for it. As for money, which may be said 
to be the third blessing, neglect it not : but note, that 
there is no necessity of being rich ; for, I told you, 
there be as many miseries beyond riches as on this 
side them : and, if you have a competence, enjoy it 
with a meek, cheerful, thankful heart. I will tell you, 
Scholar, I have heard a grave divine say, that God 



284 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

has two dwellings ; one in heaven, and the other in a 
meek and thankful heart : which Almighty God grant 
to me, and to my honest Scholar ! And so you are 
welcome to Tottenham High-Cross. 

Ven. Well, Master, I thank you for all your good 
directions ; but for none more than this last of thank- 
fulness, which I hope I shall never forget. And pray 
now let's rest ourselves in this sweet shady arbor, 
which Nature herself has woven with her own fine fin- 
gers ; 'tis such a contexture of woodbines, sweetbrier, 
jessamine, and myrtle, and so interwoven as will 
secure us both from the sun's violent heat, and from 
the approaching shower. And, being sat down, I will 
requite a part of your courtesies with a bottle of sack, 
milk, oranges, and sugar, which, all put together, make 
a drink like nectar ; indeed, too good for anybody but 
us Anglers. And so, Master, here is a full glass to 
you of that liquor ; and when you have pledged me, I 
will repeat the verses which I promised you. It is a 
copy printed amongst some of Sir Henry Wotton's, 
and doubtless made either by him or by a lover of 
Angling. Come, Master, now drink a glass to me, 
and then I will pledge you, and fall to my repetition ; 
it is a description of such country recreations as I 
have enjoyed since I had the happiness to fall into 
your company. 

" Quivering fears, heart-tearing cares, 
Anxious sighs, untimely tears, 

Fly, fly to courts, 

Fly to fond worldlings' sports, 
Where strained sardonic smiles are glozing still, 
And Grief is forced to laugh against her will : 










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Chap. XXL] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 285 

Where mirth 's but mummery, 
And sorrows only real be. 

" Fly, from our country pastimes, fly, 
Sad troops of human misery. 

Come, serene looks, 

Clear as the crystal brooks, 
Or the pure azured heaven, that smiles to see 
The rich attendance of our poverty : 

Peace and a secure mind, 

Which all men seek, we only find. 

" Abused mortals, did you know 
Whei - e joy, heart's-ease, and comforts grow, 

You 'd scorn proud towers, 

And seek them in these bowers ; 
Where winds, sometimes, our woods perhaps may shake, 
But blust'ring care could never tempest make ; 

Nor murmurs e'er come nigh us, 

Saving of fountains that glide by us. 

" Here 's no fantastic masque, nor dance, 
But of our kids that frisk and prance ; 

Nor wars are seen, 

Unless upon the green 
Two harmless lambs are butting one the other, 
Which done, both bleating run each to his mother : 

And wounds are never found, 

Save what the ploughshare gives the ground. 

" Here are no entrapping baits 
To hasten too, too hasty fates, 

Unless it be 

The fond credulity 
Of silly fish, which, worldling like, still look 
Upon the bait, but never on the hook : 

Nor envy, 'less among 

The birds, for prize of their sweet song. 



286 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. 

"Go, let the diving negro seek 
For gems hid in some forlorn creek : 

We all pearls scorn, 

Save what the dewy morn 
Congeals upon each little spire of grass, 
Which careless shepherds beat down as they pass : 

And gold ne'er here appears, 

Save what the yellow Ceres bears. 

" Blest silent groves ! O may you be 
Forever mirth's best nursery ! 
May pure contents 
Forever pitch their tents 
Upon these downs, these meads, these rocks, these moun- 
tains, 
And peace still slumber by these purling fountains : 
Which we may every year 
Meet when we come a-fishing here. " 

PlSC. Trust me, Scholar, I thank you heartily for 
these verses : they be choicely good, and doubtless 
made by a lover of Angling. Come, now, drink a 
glass to me, and I will requite you with another very 
good copy : it is a Farewell to the Vanities of the 
World, and some say, written by Sir Harry Wotton, 
who I told you was an excellent Angler. But let them 
be writ by whom they will, he that writ them had a 
brave soul, and must needs be possessed with happy 
thoughts at the time of their composure. 

"Farewell, ye gilded follies, pleasing troubles ! 
Farewell, ye honored rags, ye glorious bubbles ! 
Fame 's but a hollow echo ; Gold, pure clay ; 
Honor, the darling but of one short day ; 






Chap. XXI] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 287 

Beauty, th' eye's idol, but a damasked skin ; 
State, but a golden prison, to live in 
And torture free-born minds ; embroidered trains, 
Merely but pageants for proud swelling veins ; 
And blood allied to greatness is alone 
Inherited, not purchased, nor our own. 

Fame, Honor, Beauty, State, Train, Blood, and Birth 
Are but the fading blossoms of the earth. 

" I would be great, — but that the sun doth still 
Level his rays against the rising hill : 
I would be high, — but see the proudest oak 
Most subject to the rending thunder-stroke : 
I would be rich, — but see men, too unkind, 
Dig in the bowels of the richest mind : 
I would be wise, — but that I often see 
The fox suspected, whilst the ass goes free : 
I would be fair, — but see the fair and proud, 
Like the bright sun, oft setting in a cloud : 
I would be poor, — but know the humble grass 
Still trampled on by each unworthy ass : 
Rich, hated ; Wise, suspected ; Scorned if poor ; 
Great, feared ; Fair, tempted ; High, still envied more : 

I have wished all ; but now I wish for neither ; 

Great, High, Rich, Wise, nor Fair ; Poor I '11 be rather. 

"Would the World now adopt, me for her heir, 
Would Beauty's queen entitle me the fair, — 
Fame speak me Fortune's minion ; — could I vie 
Angels with India ; with a speaking eye 
Command bare heads, bowed knees, strike justice dumb, 
As well as blind and lame ; or give a tongue 
To stones by epita;;hs ; be called great master 
In the loose rhymes of every poetaster ; — ■ 
Could I be more than any man that lives, 
Great, fair, rich, wise, all in superlatives : 



288 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I 

Yet I more freely would these gifts resign, 
Than ever Fortune would have made them mine ; 
And hold one minute of this holy leisure 
Beyond the riches of this empty pleasure. 

"Welcome, pure thoughts 1 Welcome, ye silent groves ! 
These guests, these courts, my soul most dearly loves. 
Now the winged people of the sky shall sing 
My cheerful anthems to the gladsome spring :- 
A prayer-book now shall be my looking-glass, 
In which I will adore sweet Virtue's face. 
Here dwell no hateful looks, no palace-cares, 
No broken vows dwell here, nor pale-faced fears : 
Then here I '11 sit, and sigh my hot love's folly, 
And learn t' affect an holy melancholy : 
And if Contentment be a stranger, then 
I '11 ne'er look for it, but in heaven again. " 

Ven. Well, Master, these verses be worthy to keep 
a room in every man's memory. I thank you for 
them ; and I thank you for your many instructions, 
which, God willing, I will not forget. And as St. Austin, 
in his Confessions, Book IV. Chap. 3, commemorates 
the kindness of his friend Verecundus, for lending him 
and his companion a country-house, because there 
they rested and enjoyed themselves free from the 
troubles of the world ; so, having had the like advan- 
tage, both by your conversation and the Art you have 
taught me, I ought ever to do the like : for indeed, 
your company and discourse have been so useful and 
pleasant, that I may truly say, I have only lived since 
I enjoyed them and turned Angler, and not before. 
Nevertheless, here I must part with you, here in this 
now sad place, where I was so happy as first to 



Chap. XXL] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 289 

meet you : but I shall long for the gth of May, for 
then I hope again to enjoy your beloved company at 
the appointed time and place. And now I wish for 
some somniferous potion, that might force me to sleep 
away the intermitted time, which will pass away with 
me as tediously as it does with men in sorrow ; never- 
theless I will make it as short as I can, by my hopes 
and wishes. And my good Master, I will not forget 
the doctrine which you told me Socrates taught his 
scholars, that they should not think to be honored so 
much for being philosophers, as to honor philosophy 
by their virtuous lives. You advised me to the like 
concerning Angling, and I will endeavor to do so, and 
to live like those many worthy men, of which you 
made mention in the former part of your discourse. 
This is my firm resolution. And as a pious man ad- 
vised his friend, that, to beget mortification, he should 
frequent churches, and view monuments, and charnel- 
houses, and then and there consider, how many dead 
bones Time had piled up at the gates of Death : so 
when I would beget content, and increase confidence 
in the power, and wisdom, and providence of Al- 
mighty God, I will walk the meadows by some gliding 
stream, and there contemplate the lilies that take no 
care, and those very many other various little living 
creatures, that are not only created, but fed, man 
knows not how, by the goodness of the God of na- 
ture, and therefore trust in him. This is my purpose ; 
and so, " Let everything that hath breath praise the 
Lord " : and let the blessing of St. Peter's Master be 
with mine. 



290 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



[Part I. 



PlSC. And upon all that are lovers of virtue, and 
dare trust in his providence, and be quiet, and go 
a-Angling. 

"Study to be quiet." — 1 Thes. iv. 11. 




"■ ■'■''iisiii 




' 



OEIGIK 



THE 



COMPLETE ANGLER 



OR, THE 



CONTEMPLATIVE MAN'S RECREATION. 



PART II 




// 



INSTRUCTIONS HOW TO ANGLE FOR A TROUT 
OR GRAYLING IN A CLEAR STREAM. 



Qui mihi non credit, faciat licet ipse periclum 
Et fuerit scriptis sequior ille meis. 




THE FIRST DAY. 



CHAPTER I. 

PISCATOR JUNIOR AND VIATOR. 

PlSCATOR. 

OU are happily overtaken, 
Sir. May a man be so bold 
as to inquire how far you 
travel this way ? 

Viator. Yes, sure, Sir, 
very freely ; though it be a 
question I cannot very well 
resolve you, as not knowing 
myself how far it is to Ash- 
bourn, where I intend to-night to take up my inn. 




294 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

PlSC. Why then, Sir, seeing I perceive you to be a 
stranger in these parts, I shall take upon me to inform 
you, that from the town you last came through, called 
Brailsford, it is five miles ; and you are not yet above 
half a mile on this side. 

Viat. So much ! I was told it was but ten miles 
from Derby ; and, methinks, I have rode almost so 
far already. 

PlSC. O, Sir, find no fault with large measure of 
good land ; which Derbyshire abounds in, as much as 
most counties of England. 

VlAT. It may be so ; and good land, I confess, af- 
fords a pleasant prospect : but, by your good leave, 
Sir, large measure of foul way is not altogether so 
acceptable. 

PlSC. True, Sir ; but the foul way serves to justify 
the fertility of the soil, according to the proverb, 
" There is good land where there is foul way : and is 
of good use to inform you of the riches of the country 
you are come into, and of its continual travel and 
traffic to the country-town you came from : which is 
also very observable by the fulness of its road, and 
the laden horses you meet everywhere upon the way. 

VlAT. Well, Sir, I will be content to think as well 
of your country as you would desire. And I shall 
have a good deal of reason both to think and to speak 
very well of you, if I may obtain the happiness of 
your company to the fore-mentioned place ; provided 
your affairs lead you that way, and that they will per- 
mit you to slack your pace, out of complacency to a 
traveller utterly a stranger in these parts, and who am 
still to wander further out of my own knowledge. 



Chap. I.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 295 

PlSC. Sir, you invite me to my own advantage, and 
I am ready to attend you ; my way lying through that 
town ; but my business, that is, my home, some miles 
beyond it ; however, I shall have time enough to lodge 
you in your quarters, and afterwards to perform my 
own journey. In the mean time, may I be so bold as 
to inquire the end of your journey ? 

Viat. 'Tis into Lancashire, Sir, and about some 
business of concern to a near relation of mine : for I 
assure you, I do not use to take long journeys, as 
from Essex, upon the single account of pleasure. 

PlSC. From thence, Sir ! I do not then wonder you 
should appear dissatisfied with the length of the miles, 
and the foulness of the way ; though I am sorry you 
should begin to quarrel with them so soon : for, be- 
lieve me, Sir, you will find the miles much longer 
and the way much worse, before you come to your 
journey's end. 

VlAT. Why truly, Sir, for that, I am prepared to 
expect the worst ; but methinks the way is mended 
since I had the good fortune to fall into your good 
company. 

PlSC. You are not obliged to my company for that: 
but because you are already past the worst, and the 
greatest part of your way to your lodging. 

Viat. I am very glad to hear it, both for the ease 
of myself and my horse : but especially because I 
may then expect a freer enjoyment of your conversa- 
tion : though the shortness of the way will, I fear, 
make me lose it the sooner. 

PlSC. That, Sir, is not worth your care ; and I am 



296 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

sure you deserve much better, for being content with 
so ill company. But we have already talked away 
two miles of your journey ; for, from the brook before 
us, that runs at the foot of this sandy hill, you have 
but three miles to Ashbourn. 

Viat. I meet everywhere in this country with these 
little brooks ; and they look as if they were full of 
fish. Have they not Trouts in them ? 

PlSC. That is a question which is to be excused in 
a stranger, as you are : otherwise, give me leave to tell 
you, it would seem a kind of affront to our country, to 
make a doubt of what we pretend to be famous for, 
next, if not before, our malt, wool, lead, and coal : for 
you are to understand, that we think we have as many 
fine rivers, rivulets, and brooks as any country what- 
ever ; and they are all full of Trouts, and some of 
them the best, it is said, by many degrees, in Eng- 
land. 

VlAT. I was first, Sir, in love with you, and now 
shall be so enamored of your country, by this account 
you give me of it, as to wish myself a Derbyshire 
man, or at least that I might live in it ; for you must 
know I am a pretender to the Angle, and, doubtless, a 
Trout affords the most pleasure to the Angler of any 
sort of fish whatever ; and the best Trouts must needs 
make the best sport : but this brook, and some others 
I have met with upon this way, are too full of wood 
for that recreation. 

PlSC. This, Sir ! w r hy this, and several others like 
it, which you have past, and some that you are like to 
pass, have scarce any name amongst us : but we can 



Chap. I.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 297 

show you as fine rivers, and as clear from wood, or 
any other encumbrance to hinder an Angler, as any 
you ever saw ; and for clear, beautiful streams, Hant- 
shire itself, by Mr. Izaak Walton's good leave, can 
show none such ; nor I think any country in Europe. 

VlAT. You go far, Sir, in the praise of your country 
rivers, and I perceive have read Mr. Walton's Com- 
plete Angler, by your naming of Hantshire ; and I 
pray what is your opinion of that book ? 

PlSC. My opinion of Mr. Walton's book is the 
same with every man's that understands anything of 
the art of Angling, that it is an excellent good one; 
and that the forementioned gentleman understands as 
much of fish, and fishing, as any man living. But I 
must tell you further, that I have the happiness to 
know his person, and to be intimately acquainted with 
him ; and in him to know the worthiest man, and to 
enjoy the best and the truest friend any man ever 
had : nay, I shall yet acquaint you further, that he 
gives me leave to call him father, and I hope is not 
yet ashamed to own me for his adopted son. 

Viat. In earnest, Sir, I am ravished to meet with a 
friend of Mr. Izaak Walton's, and one that does him 
so much right in so good and true a character : for I 
must boast to you, that I have the good fortune to 
know him too, and came acquainted with him much 
after the same manner I do with you ; that he was 
my Master who first taught me to love Angling, and 
then to become an Angler ; and, to be plain with you, 
I am the very man deciphered in his book under the 
name of Venator ; for I was wholly addicted to the 



29S THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

Chase, till he taught me as good, a more quiet, inno- 
cent, and less dangerous diversion. 

PlSC. Sir, I think myself happy in your acquaint- 
ance ; and before we part shall entreat leave to em- 
brace you. You have said enough to recommend you 
to my best opinion ; for my Father Walton will be 
seen twice in no man's company he does not like, and 
likes none but such as he believes to be'very honest 
men ; which is one of the best arguments, or at least 
of the best testimonies I have, that I either am, or 
that he thinks me, one of those, seeing I have not yet 
found him weary of me. 

VlAT. You speak like a true friend ; and, in doing 
so, render yourself worthy of his friendship. May I be 
so bold as to ask your name ? 

PlSC. Yes surely, Sir, and if you please a much 

nicer question ; my name is , and I intend to 

stay long enough in your company, if I find you do 
not dislike mine, to ask yours too. In the mean time, 
because we are now almost at Ashbourn, I shall freely 
and bluntly tell you, that I am a Brother of the Angle 
too ; and, peradventure, can give you some instructions 
how to angle for a Trout in a clear river, that my Fa- 
ther Walton himself will not disapprove ; though he 
did either purposely omit, or did not remember them 
when you and he sat discoursing under the sycamore- 
tree. And, being you have already told me whither 
your journey is intended, and that I am better ac- 
quainted with the country than you are, I will heartily 
and earnestly entreat you will not think of staying at 
this town, but go on with me six miles farther to my 



Chap. I] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 299 

house, where you shall be extremely welcome ; it is 
directly in your way ; we have day enough to perform 
our journey, and, as you like your entertainment, you 
may there repose yourself a day or two, or as many 
more as your occasions will permit, to recompense the 
trouble of so much a longer journey. 

Viat. Sir, you surprise me with so friendly an invi- 
tation upon so short acquaintance : but how advanta- 
geous soever it would be to me, and that my haste, 
perhaps, is not so great, but it might dispense with 
such a divertisement as I promise myself in your 
company, yet I cannot, in modesty, accept your offer, 
and must therefore beg your pardon : I could other- 
wise, I confess, be glad to wait upon you, if upon no 
other account but to talk of Mr. Izaak Walton, and to 
receive those instructions you say you are able to give 
me for the deceiving a Trout ; in which art I will not 
deny but that I have an ambition to be one of the 
greatest deceivers : though I cannot forbear freely to 
tell you that I think it hard to say much more than 
has been read to me upon that subject. 

PlSC. Well, Sir, I grant that too ; but you must 
know that the variety of rivers require different ways 
of Angling : however, you shall have the best rules 
I am able to give, and I will tell you nothing I have not 
made myself as certain of, as any man can be in thirty 
years' experience, for so long I have been a dabbler 
in that art ; and that, if you please to stay a few days, 
you shall in a very great measure see made good to 
you. But of that hereafter : and now, Sir, if I am not 
mistaken, I have half overcome you ; and that I may 



300 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part IE 

wholly conquer that modesty of yours, I will take up- 
on me to be so familiar as to say, you must accept my 
invitation ; which, that you may the more easily be 
persuaded to do, I will tell you that my house stands 
upon the margin of one of the finest rivers for Trouts 
and Grayling in England ; that I have lately built a 
little fishing-house upon it, dedicated to Anglers, over 
the door of which you will see the two -first letters 
of my Father Walton's name and mine, 
titk S pag e the tw i ste d in cipher;* that you shall lie in 
the same bed he has sometimes been con- 
tented with, and have such country entertainment as 
my friends sometimes accept ; and be as welcome, 
too, as the best friend of them all. 

VlAT. No doubt, Sir, but my Master Walton found 
good reason to be satisfied with his entertainment in 
your house ; for you, who are so friendly to a mere 
stranger, who deserves so little, must needs be exceed- 
ing kind and free to him who deserves so much. 

PiSC. Believe me, no : and such as are intimately 
acquainted with that gentleman know him to be a man 
who will not endure to be treated like a stranger. So 
that his acceptation of my poor entertainments has 
ever been a pure effect of his own humility and good 
nature, and nothing else. But, Sir, we are now going 
down the Spittle Hill into the town ; and therefore let 
me importune you suddenly to resolve, and most ear- 
nestly not to deny me. 

Viat. In truth, Sir, I am so overcome by your 
bounty, that I find I cannot ; but must render myself 
wholly to be disposed by you. 



Chap. I.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 30I 

PlSC. Why that 's heartily and kindly spoken, and 
I as heartily thank you : and, being you have aban- 
doned yourself to my conduct, we will only call and 
drink a glass on horseback at the Talbot, and away. 

VlAT. I attend you. But what pretty river is this, 
that runs under this stone bridge ? Has it a name ? 

PlSC. Yes, 't is called Henmore, and has in it both 
Trout and Grayling ; but you will meet with one or 
two better anon. And so soon as we are past through 
the town, I will endeavor, by such discourse as best 
likes you, to pass away the time till you come to your 
ill quarters. 

VlAT. We can talk of nothing with which I shall 
be more delighted, than of Rivers and Angling. 

PlSC. Let those be the subjects then. But we are 
now come to the Talbot. What will you drink, Sir, 
ale or wine ? 

Viat. Nay, I am for the country liquor, Derbyshire 
ale, if you please ; for a man should not, methinks, 
come from London to drink wine in the Peak. 

PlSC. You are in the right : and yet, let me tell you, 
you may drink worse French wine in many taverns in 
London, than they have sometimes at this house. 
What, Ho ! bring us a flagon of your best ale. And 
now, Sir, my service to you, a good health to the hon- 
est gentleman you know of; and you are welcome 
into the Peak. 

Viat. I thank you, Sir, and present you my ser- 
vice again, and to all the honest Brothers of the 
Angle. 

PlSC. I '11 pledge you, Sir : so there 's for your ale, 



3° 2 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



[Part II. 



and farewell. Come, Sir, let us be going : for the sun 
grows low, and I would have you look about you as 
you ride ; for you will see an odd country, and sights 
that will seem strange to you. 




Chap. II.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 303 

THE FIRST DAY. 
CHAPTER II. 

PlSCATOR. 

O 0, Sir, now we have got to the top of the hill out 
^ of town, look about you, and tell me how you like 
the country. 

Viat. Bless me ! what mountains are here ! Are 
we not in Wales ? 

PlSC. No, but in almost as mountainous a country ; 
and yet these hills, though high, bleak, and craggy, 
breed and feed good beef and mutton above ground, 
and afford good store of lead within. 

Viat. They had need of all those commodities to 
make amends for the ill landscape : but I hope our 
way does not lie over any of these, for I dread a 
precipice. 

PlSC. Believe me, but it does, and down one es- 
pecially, that will appear a little terrible to a stranger ; 
though the way is passable enough, and so passable, 
that we, who are natives of these mountains, and ac- 
quainted with them, disdain to alight. 

Viat. I hope though, that a foreigner is privileged 
to use his own discretion, and that I may have the 
liberty to intrust my neck to the fidelity of my own 
feet, rather than to those of my horse ; for I have no 
more at home. 

PlSC. 'T were hard else. But in the mean time, I 



304 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

think 't were best, while this way is pretty even, to 
mend our pace, that we may be past that hill I speak 
of, to the end your apprehension may not be doubled 
for want of light to discern the easiness of the descent. 

VlAT. I am willing to put forward as fast as my 
beast, will give me leave; though I fear nothing in 
your company. But what pretty river is this we are 
going into? 

PiSC. Why this, Sir, is called Bentley Brook, and is 
full of very good Trout and Grayling ; but so encum- 
bered with wood in many places, as is troublesome to 
an Angler. 

VlAT. Here are the prettiest rivers and the most 
of them in this country that ever I saw : do you know 
how many you have in the country ? 

Pise. I know them all, and they were not hard to 
reckon, were it worth the trouble ; but the most con- 
siderable of them I will presently name you. And to 
begin where we now are, for you must know we are 
now upon the very skirts of Derbyshire ; we have, 
first, the river Dove, that we shall come to by and by, 
which divides the two counties of Derby and Stafford, 
for many miles together ; and is so called from the 
swiftness of its current, and that swiftness occasioned 
by the declivity of its course, and by being so strait- 
ened in that course betwixt the rocks ; by which, and 
those very high ones, it is hereabout, for four or five 
miles, confined into a very narrow stream. A river 
that, from a contemptible fountain, which I can cover 
with my hat, by the confluence of other rivers, rivulets, 
brooks, and rills, is swelled, — before it falls into Trent, 



Chap. II.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 305 

a little below Egginton, where it loses the name, — to 
such a breadth and depth as to be in most places 
navigable, were not the passage frequently interrupted 
with fords and weirs : and has as fertile banks as any 
river in England, none excepted. And this river, from 
its head, for a mile or two, is a black water, — as all the 
rest of the Derbyshire rivers of note originally are ; 
for they all spring from the mosses, — but is in a few 
miles' travel* so clarified, by the addition of several 
clear, and very great springs, bigger than itself, which 
gush out of the limestone rocks, that before it comes 
to my house, which is but six or seven miles from its 
source, you will find it one of the purest crystalline 
streams you have seen. 

Viat. Does Trent spring in these parts ? 

PlSC. Yes, in these parts : not in this county, but 
somewhere towards the upper end of Staffordshire, I 
think not far from a place called Trentham ; and 
thence runs down not far from Stafford to Wolsley 
Bridge, and, washing the skirts and purlieus of the 
Forest of Needwood, runs down to Burton in the same 
county : thence it comes into this where we now are, 
and, running by Swarkeston and Dunnington, receives 
Derwent at Wildon ; and so to Nottingham, thence to 
Newark, and by Gainsborough to Kingston upon Hull, 
where it takes the name of Humber, and thence falls 
into the sea : but that the map will best inform you. 

Viat. Know you whence this river Trent derives 
its name ? 

PlSC. No, indeed, and yet I have heard it often 
discoursed upon, when some have given its denomina- 



306 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

tion from the forenamed Trentham, though that seems 
rather a derivative from it ; others have said, 't is so 
called from thirty rivers that fall into it, and there lose 
their names ; which cannot be, neither, because it car- 
ries that name from its very fountain, before any other 
rivers fall into it: others derive it from thirty several 
sorts of fish that breed there ; and that is the most 
likely derivation : but be it how it will, if is doubtless 
one of the finest rivers in the world, and the most 
abounding with excellent Salmon, and all sorts of 
delicate fish. 

Viat. Pardon me, Sir, for tempting you into this 
digression : and then proceed to your other rivers, for 
I am mightily delighted with this discourse. 

PlSC. It was no interruption, but a very seasonable 
question ; for Trent is not only one of our Derbyshire 
rivers, but the chief of them, and into which all the 
rest pay the tribute of their names ; which I had, per- 
haps, forgot to insist upon, being got to the other end 
of the county, had you not awoke my memory. But 
I will now proceed ; and the next river of note, for I 
will take them as they lie eastward from us, is the river 
Wye : I say of note, for we have two lesser betwixt 
us and it, namely, Lathkin, and Bradford ; of which 
Lathkin is, by many degrees, the purest and most 
transparent stream that I ever yet saw, either at home 
or abroad ; and breeds, 't is said, the reddest and the 
best Trouts in England ; but neither of these are to be 
reputed rivers, being no better than great springs. 
The river Wye then has its source near unto Buxton, 
a town some ten miles from hence, famous for a warm 






Chap. II] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 307 

bath, and which you are to ride through in your way 
to Manchester : a black water too at the fountain, but, 
by the same reason with Dove, becomes very soon a 
most delicate clear river, and breeds admirable Trout 
and Grayling, reputed by those who, by living upon 
its banks, are partial to it, the best of any ; and this 
running down by Ashford, Bakewell, and Haddon, at 
a town a little lower called Rowsley, fails into Der- 
went, and there loses its name. The next in order is 
Derwent, a black water too, and that not only from its 
fountain, but quite through its progress, not having 
these crystal springs to wash and cleanse it, which 
the two forementioned have : but abounds with Trout 
and Grayling, such as they are, towards its source, 
and with Salmon below : and this river from the 
upper and utmost part of this county, where it springs, 
taking its course by Chatsworth, Darley, Matlock, 
Derby, Burrow-Ash, and Awberson, falls into Trent 
at a place called Wildon, and there loses its name. 
The east side of this County of Derby is bounded by 
little inconsiderable rivers, as Awber, Eroways, and 
the like, scarce worth naming, but Trouty too, and 
further we are not to inquire. But, Sir, I have carried 
you, as a man may say, by water, till we are now come 
to the descent of the formidable hill I told you of, at 
the foot of which runs the river Dove, which I cannot 
but love above all the rest ; and therefore prepare 
yourself to be a little frighted. 

Viat. Sir, I see you would fortify me, that I should 
not shame myself; but I dare follow where you please 
to lead me ; and I see no danger yet ; for the descent, 
methinks, is thus far green, even, and easy. 



308 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part. If. 

PlSC. You will like it worse presently, when you 
come to the brow of the hill : — and now we are there, 
what think you ? 

VlAT. What do I think? Why I think it the 
strangest place that ever, sure, men and horses went 
down ; and that, if there be any safety at all, the 
safest way is to alight. 

PlSC. I think so too for you, who are mounted 
upon a beast not acquainted with these slippery 
stones : and, though I frequently ride down, I will 
alight too, to bear you company, and to lead you the 
way ; and, if you please, my man shall lead your horse. 

VlAT. Marry, Sir ? and thank you too : for I am 
afraid I shall have enough to do to look to myself; 
and with my horse in my hand should be in a double 
fear, both of breaking my neck, and my horse's falling 
on me ; for it is as steep as a penthouse. 

PlSC. To look down from hence it appears so, I 
confess ; but the path winds and turns, and will not 
be found so troublesome. 

Viat. Would I were well down though ! Hoist 
thee ! there 's one fair 'scape ! these stones are so 
slippery I cannot stand ! yet again ! I think I were 
best lay my heels in my neck, and tumble down. 

PlSC. If you think your heels will defend your 
neck, that is the way to be soon at the bottom. But 
give me your hand at this broad stone, and then the 
worst is past. 

Viat. I thank you, Sir, I am now past it, I can go 
myself. What 's here ? the sign of a bridge ? Do 
you use to travel with wheelbarrows in this country ? 



Chai\ II.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



3°9 



PlSC. Not that I ever saw, Sir. Why do you ask 
that question ? 

Viat. Because this bridge certainly was made for 
nothing else ; why a mouse can hardly go over it : 
't is not two fingers broad. 

PlSC. You are pleasant, and I am glad to see you 
so : but I have rid over the bridge many a dark 
night. 

Viat. Why, according to the French proverb, and 
't is a good one among a great many of worse sense 
and sound that language abounds in, Ce que Dieu 
garde, est Men garde. They whom God takes care of 
are in safe protection ; but, let me tell you, I would 
not ride over it for a thousand pounds, nor fall off it 
for two ; and yet I think I dare venture on foot, though 
if you were not by to laugh at me, I should do it on 
all four. 

PlSC. Well, Sir, your mirth becomes you, and I am 
glad to see you safe over ; and now you are welcome 
into Staffordshire. 

Viat. How, Staffordshire ! What do I there trow? 
There is not a word of Staffordshire in all my di- 
rection. 

PlSC. You see you are betrayed into it ; but it shall 
be in order to something that will make amends ; and 
't is but an ill mile or two out of your way. 

Viat. I believe all things, Sir, and doubt nothing. 
Is this your beloved river Dove ? 'T is clear and 
swift, indeed, but a very little one. 

PlSC. You see it here at the worst ; we shall come 
to it anon again after two miles riding, and so near as 
to lie upon the very banks. 



310 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part. II. 

Viat. Would we were there once ! But I hope we 
have no more of these Alps to pass over. 

Pise. No, no, Sir, only this ascent before you, which 
you see is not very uneasy ; and then you will no more 
quarrel with your way. 

Viat. Well, if ever I come to London, of which 
many a man there, if he were in my place would make 
a question, I will sit down and write my travels ; and, 
like Tom Coriate, print them at my own charge. 
Pray what do you call this hill we come down ? 

PlSC. We call it Hanson Toot. 

Viat. Why, farewell Hanson Toot ! I '11 no more 
on thee : I '11 go twenty miles about first. Puh ! I 
sweat, that my shirt sticks to my back. 

PlSC. Come, Sir, now we are up the hill, and now 
how do you ? 

Viat. Why, very well, I humbly thank you, Sir, and 
warm enough, I assure you. What have we here, a 
church ! As I'm an honest man, a very pretty church ! 
Have you churches in this country, Sir? 

PlSC. You see we have : but, had you seen none, 
why should you make that doubt, Sir? 

Viat. Why, if you will not be angry, I '11 tell you I 
thought myself a stage or two beyond Christendom. 

PlSC. Come, come ! we '11 reconcile you to our 
country, before we part with you ; if showing you 
good sport with Angling will do it. 

Viat. My respect to you, and that together may do 
much,' Sir ; otherwise, to be plain with you, I do not 
find myself much inclined that way. 

PlSC. Well, Sir, your raillery upon our mountains 






Chap. II. J THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 31 I 

has brougnt us almost home. And look you where 
the same river of Dove has again met us to bid you 
welcome, and to invite you to a dish of Trouts to- 
morrow. 

Viat. Is this the same we saw at the foot of Pen- 
men-Maure ? It is a much finer river here. 

PlSC. It will appear yet much finer to-morrow. But 
look you, Sir, here appears the house, that is now like 
to be your inn, for want of a better. 

Viat. It appears on a sudden, but not before 't was 
looked for. It stands prettily, and here 's wood about 
it too, but so young, as appears to be of your own 
planting. 

PlSC. It is so. Will it please you to alight, Sir. — 
And now permit me, after all your pains and dangers, 
to take you in my arms, and to assure you that you 
are infinitely welcome. 

Viat. I thank you, Sir, and am glad with all my 
heart I am here ; for, in downright truth, I am exceed- 
ing weary. 

PlSC. You will sleep so much the better : you shall 
presently have a light supper, and to bed. Come, Sirs, 
lay the cloth, and bring what you have presently, and 
let the gentleman's bed be made ready in the mean 
time, in my Father Walton's chamber. And now, 
Sir, here is my service to you ; and once more wel- 
come ! 

Viat. I, marry, Sir, this glass of good sack has re- 
freshed me. And I '11 make as bold with your meat, 
for the trot has got me a good stomach. 

PlSC. Come, Sir, fall to then, you see my little sup- 



312 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

per is always ready when I come home ; and I '11 
make no stranger of you. 

Viat. That your meal is so soon ready, is a sign 
your servants know your certain hours, Sir. I confess 
1 did not expect it so soon ; but now 't is here, you 
shall see I will make myself no stranger. 

PlSC. Much good do your heart ! and I thank you 
for that friendly word. And now, Sir, my service to 
you in a cup of More- Lands ale ; for you are now in 
the More-Lands, but within a spit and a stride of the 
Peak. Fill my friend his glass. 

Viat. Believe me, you have good ale in the More- 
Lands : far better than that at Ashbourn. 

PlSC. That it may soon be ; for Ashbourn has, 
which is a kind of a riddle, always in it the best malt, 
and the worst ale in England. Come, take away, and 
bring us some pipes, and a bottle of ale, and go to 
your own suppers. Are you for this diet, Sir? 

Viat. Yes, Sir, I am for one pipe of tobacco ; and 
I perceive yours is very good by the smell. 

PlSC. The best I can get in London, I assure you. 
But, Sir, now you have thus far complied with my 
designs, as to take a troublesome journey into an ill 
country, only to satisfy me ; how long may I hope to 
enjoy you ? 

Viat. Why, truly, Sir, as long as I conveniently 
can ; and longer, 1 think, you would not have me. 

PlSC. Not to your .inconvenience by any means, 
Sir, but I see you are wear}', and therefore I will pres- 
ently wait on you to your chamber, where take counsel 
of your pillow, and to-morrow resolve me. Here ! 



Chap. II.] 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



313 



take the lights, and pray follow them, Sir : here you 
are like to lie : and, now I have showed you your 
lodgings, I beseech you command anything you want ; 
and so I wish you good rest ! 
Viat. Good night, Sir ! 





314 '^ HF ' COMPLETE ANGLER. [Pakt II. 

THE SECOND DAY. 
CHAPTER III. 

PlSCATOR. 

f~~* OOD morrow, Sir ! What, up and 'dressed so 
^-^ early ? 

Viat. Yes, Sir, I have been dressed this half-hour ; 
for I rested so well, and have so great a mind either 
to take, or see a Trout taken, in your fine river, that I 
could no longer lie abed. 

PlSC. I am glad to see you so brisk this morn- 
ing, and so eager of sport ; though, I must tell you, 
this day proves so calm, and the sun rises so 
bright, as promises no great success to the Angler ; 
but, however, we '11 try ; and, one way or other, we 
shall, sure, do something. What will you have to 
your breakfast, or what will you drink this morn- 
ing? 

Viat. For breakfast, I never eat any, and for drink 
I am very indifferent ; but if you please to call for a 
glass of ale, I 'm for you : and let it be quickly, if you 
please, for I long to see the little fishing-house you 
spoke of, and to be at my lesson. 

PlSC. Well, Sir ! You see the ale is come without 
calling ; for though I do not know yours, my people 
know my diet ; which is always one glass so soon as I 
am dressed, and no more till dinner ; and so my ser- 
vants have served you. 



Chap. III.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



315 



Viat. My thanks. And now, if you please, let us 
look out this fine morning. 

PlSC. With all my heart ; boy, take the key of my 
fishing-house, and carry down those two angle-rods in 
the hall-window, thither, with my fish-pannier, pouch, 
and landing-net ; and stay you there till we come. 
Come, Sir, we '11 walk after ; where, by the way, I ex- 
pect you should raise all the exceptions against our 
country you can. 

Viat. Nay, Sir, do not think me so ill-natured nor 
so uncivil : I only made a little bold with it last night 
to divert you, and was only in jest. 

PlSC. You were then in as good earnest as I am 
now with you : but had you been really angry at it, I 
could not blame you ; for, to say the truth, it is not 
very taking at first sight. But look you, Sir, now you 
are abroad, does not the sun shine as bright here as in 
Essex, Middlesex, or Kent, or any of your southern 
counties ? 

Viat. 'Tis a delicate morning indeed ! And I now 
think this a marvellous pretty place. 

PlSC. Whether you think so or no, you can- 
not oblige me more than to say so ; and those of 
my friends who know my humor, and are so kind 
as to comply with it, usually flatter me that way. 
But look you, Sir, now you are at the brink of the 
hill, how do you like my river, the vale it winds 
through like a snake, and the situation of my little 
fishing-house ? 

Viat. Trust me, 'tis all very fine; and the house 
seems at this distance a neat building. 



316 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

Pise. Good enough for that purpose. And here is 
a bowling-green too, close by it ; so, though I am my- 
self no very good bowler, I am not totally devoted to 
my own pleasure, but that I have also some regard to 
other men's. And now, Sir, you are come to the 
door ; pray walk in, and there we will sit and talk, as 
long as you please. 
. „. . . , . Viat. Stay, what 's here over 

* I neve is, under this mot- ' 

to, the cipher mentioned in the door ? PlSCATORIBUS SA- 

the title-page. And some 

part of the fishing-house CRUM ! * Why then I perceive 

has been described ; but 

the pleasantness of the riv- I have some title here ; for I am 

er, mountains, and mead- 
ows about it cannot, unless one of them, though one of the 

Sir Philip Sidney, or Mr. . . . . ... 

Cotton's father, Were again worst ; and here below it is the 

alive to do it. . , , e , ,. . 

cipher too you spoke ol, and t is 
prettily contrived. Has my Master Walton ever been 
here to see it ? for it seems new built. 

PlSC. Yes, he saw it cut in the stone before it was 
set up ; but never in the posture it now stands : for 
the house was but building when he was last here, 
and not raised so high as the arch of the door. And 
I am afraid he will not see it yet ; for he has lately 
writ me word, he doubts his coming down this sum- 
mer ; which, I do assure you, was the worst news he 
could possibly have sent me. 

Viat. Men must sometimes mind their affairs to 
make more room for their pleasures ; and 't is odds he 
is as much displeased with the business that keeps him 
from you, as you are that he comes not. But I am 
the most pleased with this little house of anything I 
ever saw : it stands in a kind of peninsula, too, with 
a delicate clear river about it. I dare hardly go in, 



Chap. III.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 317 

lest I should not like it so well within as without ; but 
by your leave I '11 try. Why this is better and better, 
fine lights, finely wainscoted, and all exceeding neat, 
with a marble table and all in the middle. 

PlSC. Enough, Sir, enough ! I have laid open to 
you the part where I can worst defend myself; and 
now you attack me there ! Come, boy, set two chairs, 
and whilst I am taking a pipe of tobacco, which is 
always my breakfast, we will, if you please, talk of 
some other subject. 

Viat. None fitter, then, Sir, for the time and place, 
than those instructions you promised. 

PlSC. I begin to doubt, by something I discover in 
you, whether I am able to instruct you, or no : though, 
if you are really a stranger to our clear northern riv- 
ers, I still think I can ; and therefore, since it is yet 
too early in the morning at this time of the year, 
to-day being but the 7th of March, to cast a fly upon 
the water, if you will direct me what kind of fishing 
for a Trout I shall read you a lecture on, I am willing 
and ready to obey you. 

Viat. Why, Sir, if you will so far oblige me and 
that it may not be too troublesome to you, I would 
entreat you would run through the whole body of it ; 
and I will not conceal from you, that I am so far in love 
with you, your courtesy, and pretty Moreland seat, as 
to resolve to stay with you long enough by intervals ; 
for I will not oppress you, to hear all you can say 
upon that subject. 

Pise. You cannot oblige me more than by such a 
promise. And, therefore, without more ceremony I 



318 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

will begin to tell you, that my Father Walton having 
read to you before, it would look like a presumption in 
me, and peradventure would do so in any other man, 
to pretend to give lessons for Angling after him who, 
I do really believe, understands as much of it, at least, 
as any man in England ; did I not pre-acquaint you, 
that I am not tempted to it by any vain opinion 
of myself, that I am able to give you better direc- 
tions ; but, having from my childhood pursued the 
recreation of Angling in very clear rivers, — truly I 
think by much, some of them at least, the clear- 
est in this kingdom, — and the manner of Angling 
here with us. by reason of that exceeding clearness, 
being something different from the method commonly 
used in others, which, by being not near so bright, ad- 
mit of stronger tackle, and allow a nearer approach to 
the stream ; — I may, peradventure, give you some in- 
structions, that may be of use even in your own riv- 
ers ; and shall bring you acquainted with more flies, 
and show you how to make them, and with what dub- 
bing too, than he has taken notice of in his Complete 
Angler. 

Viat. I beseech you, Sir, do : and, if you will lend 
me your steel, I will light a pipe the while ; for that is 
commonly my breakfast in a morning, too. 



- . 




THE SECOND DAY. 
CHAPTER IV. 

PlSCATOR. 

II THY then, Sir, to begin methodically, as a master 
* * in any art should do, — and I will not deny 
but that I think myself a master in this, — I shall di- 
vide Angling for Trout or Grayling into these three 
ways : at the top, at the bottom, and in the middle ; 
which three ways, though they are all of them, as I 



320 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

shall hereafter endeavor to make it appear, in some 
sort common to both those kinds of fish, yet are they 
not so generally and absolutely so but that they will 
necessarily require a distinction ; which, in due place, 
T will also give you. 

That which we call angling at the top is with a 
fly ; at the bottom, with a ground-bait ; in the middle, 
with a minnow, or ground-bait. 

Angling at the top is of two sorts : with a quick-fly, 
or with an artificial-fly. 

That we call angling at the bottom is also of two 
sorts : by the hand, or with a cork or float. 

That we call angling in the middle is also of two 
sorts : with a minnow for a Trout, or with a ground- 
bait for a Grayling. 

Of all which several sorts of Angling I will, if you 
can have the patience to hear me, give you the best 
account I can. 

Viat. The trouble will be yours, and mine the 
pleasure and the obligation. I beseech you, therefore, 
to proceed. 

PlSC. Why, then, first of Fly-fishing. 







THE SECOND DAY 



Chap. V. — Of Fly-Fishing. 



PlSCATOR. 

"P^LY-FISHING, or fishing at the top, is, as I said 
before, of two sorts : with a Natural, and living, 
Fly, or with an Artificial, and made, Fly. 

First, then, Of the Natural Fly : of which we gener- 
ally use but two sorts, and those but in the two months 
of May and June only, namely, the Green-drake and 
the Stone-fly ; though I have made use of a third that 
way, called the Camlet-fly, with very good success for 
Grayling, but never saw it angled with by any other 
after this manner, my master only excepted, who died 
many years ago, and was one of the best Anglers that 
ever I knew. 



322 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. TPart II. 

These are to be angled with, with a short line, not 
much more than half the length of your rod, if the air 
be still ; or with a longer, very near or all out as long 
as your rod, if you have any wind to carry it from you : 
and this way of fishing we call Daping, Dabbing, or 
Dibbling ; wherein you are always to have your line 
flying before you up or down the river as the wind 
serves, and to angle as near as you can to the bank of 
the same side whereon you stand : though where you 
see a fish rise near you, you may guide your quick-fly 
over him, whether in the middle, or on the contrary 
side ; and, if you are pretty well out of sight, either by 
kneeling or the interposition of a bank or bush, you 
may almost be sure to raise, and take him too, if it be 
presently done ; the fish will otherwise, peradventure, 
be removed to some other place, if it be in the still- 
deeps, where he is always in motion, and roving up 
and down to look for prey ; though in a stream, you 
may always, almost, especially if there be a good stone 
near, find him in the same place. Your line ought in 
this case to be three good hairs next the hook ; both 
by reason you are, in this kind of Angling, to expect 
the biggest fish, and also that, wanting length to give 
him line after he is struck, you must be forced to tug 
for 't ; to which I will also add, that, not an inch of 
your line being to be suffered to touch the water in 
dibbling, it may be allowed to be the stronger. I 
should now give you a description of those flies, their 
shape and color, and then give you an account of their 
breeding, and withal show you how to keep and use 
them ; but shall defer that to their proper place and 
season. 



Chap. V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 323 

VlAT. In earnest, Sir, you discourse very rationally 
of this affair, and I am glad to find myself mistaken 
in you ; for in plain truth I did not expect so much 
from you. 

PlSC. Nay, Sir, I can tell you a great deal more 
than this, and will conceal nothing from you. But I 
must now come to the second way of angling at the 
top, which is with an artificial-fly, which also I will 
show you how to make before I have done : but 
first shall acquaint you, that with this you are to angle 
with a line longer, by a yard and a half or some- 
times two yards, than your rod ; and with both this, 
and the other, in a still day, in the streams, in a breeze 
that curls the water in the still-deeps, where (except- 
ing in May and June, that the best Trouts will lie in 
shallow streams to watch for prey, and even then too) 
you are like to hit the best fish. 

For the length of your rod, you are always to be 
governed by the breadth of the river you shall choose 
to angle at : and for a Trout-river, one of five or six 
yards long is commonly enough ; and longer, though 
never so neatly and artificially made, it ought not to 
be, if you intend to fish at ease ; and if otherwise, 
where lies the sport ? 

Of these, the best that ever I saw are made in York- 
shire, which are all of one piece : that is to say of 
several, six, eight, ten, or twelve pieces, so neatly 
pieced, and tied together with 'fine thread below, and 
silk above, as to make it taper, like a switch, and to 
ply with a true bent to your hand. And these, too, are 
light, being; made of fir-wood for two or three lengths 



324 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

nearest to the hand, and of other wood nearer to the 
top ; that a man might very easily manage the longest 
of them that ever I saw, with one hand. And these, 
when you have given over Angling for a season, being 
taken to pieces, and laid up in some dry place, may 
afterwards be set together again in their former pos- 
tures, and will be as straight, sound, and good as the 
first hour they were made ; and being laid in oil and 
color, according to your Master Walton's direction, 
will last many years. 

The length of your line, to a man that knows how 
to handle his rod, and to cast it, is no manner of en- 
cumbrance, excepting in woody places and in landing 
of a fish, which every one that can afford to angle 
for pleasure has somebody to do for him. And the 
length of line is a mighty advantage to the fishing at 
distance ; and to fish fine, and far off, is the first and 
principal rule for Trout-Angling. 

Your line in this case should never be less, nor ever 
exceed two hairs next to the hook ; for one (though 
some I know will pretend to more art than their fel- 
lows) is indeed too few, the least accident, with the 
finest hand, being sufficient to break it ; but he that 
cannot kill a Trout of twenty inches long with two, in 
a river clear of wood and weeds, as this and some 
other of ours are, deserves not the name of an 
Angler. 

Now to have your whole line as it ought to be, two 
of the first lengths nearest the hook should be of two 
hairs apiece ; the next three lengths above them of 
three ; the next three above them of four ; and so of 






Char V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 325 

five, and six, and seven, to the very top : by which 
means your rod and tackle will, in a manner, be taper 
from your very hand to your hook ; your line will fall 
much better and straighter, and cast your fly to any 
certain place to which the hand and eye shall direct it, 
with less weight and violence, than would otherwise 
circle the water and fright away the fish. 

In casting your line, do it always before you, and so 
that your fly may first fall upon the water, and as little 
of your line with it as is possible ; though if the wind 
be stiff, you will then of necessity be compelled to 
drown a good part of your line to keep your fly in the 
water : and in casting your fly, you must aim at the 
further, or nearer bank, as the wind serves your turn ; 
which also will be with and against you on the same 
side, several times in an hour, as the river winds in its 
course ; and you will be forced to angle up and down 
by turns accordingly ; but are to endeavor, as much as 
you can, to have the wind evermore on your back. 
And always be sure to stand as far off the bank as 
your length will give you leave when you throw to the 
contrary side : though, when the wind will not permit 
you so to do, and that you are constrained to angle on 
the same side whereon you stand, you must then 
stand on the very brink of the river, and cast your fly 
at the utmost length of your rod and line, up or down 
the river as the gale serves. 

It only remains, touching your line, to inquire 
whether your two hairs, next to the hook, are better 
twisted, or open. And for that I should declare that 
I think the open way the better, because it makes less 



326 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

show in the water; but that I have found an incon- 
venience, or two, or three, that have made me almost 
weary of that way : of which one is, that, without dis- 
pute, they are not so strong open as twisted ; another, 
that they are not easily to be fastened of so exact an 
equal length in the arming, that the one will not cause 
the other to bag, by which means a man has but one 
hair, upon the matter, to trust to ; and the- last is, that 
these loose flying hairs are not only more apt to catch 
upon every twig or bent they meet with, but moreover 
the hook, in falling upon the water, will very often re- 
bound, and fly back betwixt the hairs, and there stick, 
(which, in a rough water especially, is not presently 
to be discerned by the Angler,) so as the point of the 
hook shall stand reversed ; by which means your fly 
"swims backwards, makes a much greater circle in the 
water, and, till taken home to you and set right, will 
never raise any fish ; or, if it should, I am sure, but 
by a very extraordinary chance, can hit none. 

Having done with both these ways of fishing at the 
top, the length of your rod, and line, and all, I am 
next to teach you how to make a fly ; and afterwards, 
of what dubbing you are to make the several flies I 
shall hereafter name to you. 

In making a fly, then, which is not a Hackle, or 
Palmer-fly, (for of those, and their several kinds, we 
shall have occasion to speak every month in the year,) 
you are first to hold your hook fast betwixt the fore- 
finger and thumb of your left hand, with the back of 
the shank upwards,. and the point towards your fingers' 
ends : then take a strong; small silk of the color of the 



Chap. V.j THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 327 

fly you intend to make, wax it well with wax of the 
same color too : to which end you are always, by 
the way, to have wax of all colors about you ; and 
draw it betwixt your finger and thumb, to the head of 
the shank, and then whip it twice or thrice about the 
bare hook, which you must know is done, both to pre- 
vent slipping, and also that the shank of the hook 
may not cut the hairs of your towght, which some- 
times it will otherwise do. Which being done, take 
your line and draw it likewise betwixt your finger and 
thumb, holding the hook so fast, as only to suffer it to 
pass by, until you have the knot of your towght almost 
to the middle of the shank of your hook, on the in- 
side of it ; then whip your silk twice or thrice about 
both hook and line, as hard as the strength of the silk 
will permit. Which being done, strip the feather for 
the wings proportionable to the bigness of your fly, 
placing that side downwards which grew uppermost 
before, upon the back of the hook, leaving so much 
only as to serve for the length of the wing of the point 
of the plume lying reversed from the end of the shank 
upwards : then whip your silk twice or thrice about 
the root-end of the feather, hook, and towght. Which 
being done, clip off the root-end of the feather close 
by the arming, and then whip the silk fast and firm 
about the hook and towght, until you come to the bend 
of the hook : but not further, as you do at London, 
and so make a very unhandsome, and, in plain Eng- 
lish, a very unnatural and shapeless fly. Which being 
done, cut away the end of your towght, and fasten it. 
And then take your dubbing which is to make the 



328 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

body of your fly, as much as you think convenient ; 
and, holding it lightly with your hook betwixt the fin- 
ger and thumb of your left hand, take your silk with 
the right, and twisting it betwixt the finger and thumb 
of that hand, the dubbing will spirt itself about the 
silk, which when it has done, whip it about the 
armed-hook backward, till you come to the setting 
on of the wings. And then take the feather for the 
wings, and divide it equally into two parts ; and turn 
them back towards the end of the hook, the one on 
the one side and the other on the other of the shank, 
holding them fast in that posture betwixt the fore- 
finger and thumb of your left hand. Which done, 
warp them so down as to stand and slope towards the 
bend of the hook ; and, having warped up to the end 
of the shank, hold the fly fast betwixt the finger and 
thumb of your left hand, and then take the silk betwixt 
the finger and thumb of your right hand, and, where 
the warping ends, pinch or nip it with your thumb-nail 
against your finger, and strip away the remainder of 
your dubbing from the silk ; and then, with the bare 
silk, whip it once or twice about, make the wings to 
stand in due order, fasten, and cut it off : after which 
with the point of a needle raise up the dubbing gently 
from the warp ; twitch off the superfluous hairs of 
your dubbing; leave the wings of an equal length, — 
your fly will never else swim true ; — and the work is 
done. And this way of making a fly, which is cer- 
tainly the best of all other, was taught me by a kins- 
man of mine, one Captain Henry Jackson, a near 
neighbor, an admirable Fly-Angler ; by many degrees 



Chap. V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 329 

the best fly-maker that ever I yet met with. And now 
that I have told you how a fly is to be made, you shall 
presently see me make one, with which you may per- 
adventure take a Trout this morning, notwithstanding 
the unlikeliness of the day ; for it is now nine of the 
clock, and fish will begin to rise if they will rise to-day. 
I will walk along by you, and look on : and, after din- 
ner, I will proceed in my lecture of Fly-fishing. 

Viat. I confess I long to be at the river ; and yet 
I could sit here all day to hear you ; but some of the 
one, and some of the other, will do well : and I have 
a mighty ambition to take a Trout in your river 
Dove. 

PiSC. I warrant you shall : I would not for more 
than I will speak of but you should, seeing I have so 
extolled my river to you. Nay, I will keep you here 
a month, but you shall have one good day of sport 
before you go. 

Viat. You will find me, I doubt, too tractable that 
way ; for, in good earnest, if business would give me 
leave, and that, if it were fit, I could find in my heart 
to stay with you forever. 

PiSC. I thank you, Sir, for that kind expression ; 
and now let me look out my things to make this fly. 




THE SECOND DAY. 



CHAPTER VI. 



PlSCATOR. 



T) OY ! come, give me my dubbing-bag here pres- 
■*-' ently. And now, Sir, since I find you so honest 
a man, I will make no scruple to lay open my treasure 
before you. i 

Viat. Did ever any one see the like ! What a heap 
of trumpery is here ! certainly never an Angler in 
Europe has his shop half so well furnished as you 
have. 

PlSC. You, perhaps, may think now that I rake to- 
gether this trumpery, as you call it, for show only ; to 
the end that such as see it, which are not many I as- 



Chap. VI.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 33 1 

sure you, may think me a great master in the art of 
Angling ; but let me tell you here are some colors, as 
contemptible as they seem here, that are very hard to 
be got ; and scarce any one of them, which, if it should 
be lost, I should not miss, and be concerned about the 
loss of it too, once in the year. But look you, Sir, 
amongst all these I will choose out these two colors 
only, of which, this is bear's hair, this darker, no great 
matter what : but I am sure I have killed a great deal 
of fish with it; and with one or both of these, you 
shall take Trout or Grayling this very day, notwith- 
standing all disadvantages, or my art shall fail me. 

Viat. You promise comfortably, and I have a great 
deal of reason to believe everything you say ; but I 
wish the fly were made, that we were at it. 

Pise. That will not be long in doing ; and pray 
observe then. You see first how I hold my hook, 
and thus I begin. Look you, here are my first two or 
three whips about the bare hook ; thus I join hook 
and line ; thus 1 put on my wings ; thus I twirl and 
lap on my dubbing ; thus I work it up towards the 
head ; thus I part my wings ; thus I nip my super- 
fluous dubbing from my silk ; thus fasten ; thus trim 
and adjust my fly : and there 's a fly made. And now 
how do you like it ? 

Viat. In earnest, admirably well ; and it perfectly 
resembles a fly : but we about London make the 
bodies of our flies both much bigger and longer, — 
so long as even almost to the very beard of the hook. 

PlSC. I know it very well, and had one of those flies 
given me by an honest gentleman, who came with my 



332 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

Father Walton to give me a visit ; which, to tell you 
the truth, I hung in my parlor window to laugh at : but 
Sir, you know the proverb, " They who go to Rome 
must do as they at Rome do " ; and, believe me, you 
must here make your flies after this fashion, or you 
will take no fish. Come, I will look you out a line, 
and you shall put it on, and try it. There, Sir, now I 
think you are fitted ; and now beyond the farther end 
of the walk you shall begin. I see at that bend of the 
water above, the air crisps the water a little. Knit your 
line first here, and then go up thither, and see what 
you can do. 

Viat. Did you see that, Sir. 

PiSC. Yes, I saw the fish, and he saw you too, 
which made him turn short ; you must fish farther off, 
if you intend to have any sport here ; this is no New 
River, let me tell you ! That was a good Trout, believe 
me ; did you touch him ? 

VlAT. No, I would I had, we would not have parted 
so ! Look you, there was another ! This is an excel- 
lent fly ! 

PiSC. That fly, I am sure, would kill fish, if the day 
were right ; but they only chew at it, I see, and will 
not take it. Come, Sir, let us return back to the fish- 
ing-house ; this still water I see will not do our busi- 
ness to-day. You shall now, if you please, make a fly 
yourself, and try what you can do in the streams with 
that ; and I know a Trout taken with a fly of your 
own making will please you better than twenty with 
one of mine. Give me that bag again, Sirrah. Look 
you, Sir, there is a hook, towght, silk, and a feather 



Chap. VI.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 333 

for the wings : be doing with those, and I will look 
you out a dubbing that 1 think will do. 

VlAT. This is a very little hook. 

PlSC. That may serve to inform you, that it is for a 
very little fly, and you must make your wings accord- 
ingly ; for as the case stands it must be a little fly, and 
a very little one too, that must do your business. Well 
said ! believe me you shift your fingers very hand- 
somely : I doubt I have taken upon me to teach my 
master. So, here 's your dubbing now. 

VlAT. This dubbing is very black. 

PlSC. It appears so in hand, but step to the door 
and hold it up betwixt your eye and the sun, and it 
will appear a shining red : let me tell you, never a 
man in England can discern the true color of a dub- 
bing any way but that ; and therefore choose always 
to make your flies on such a bright sunshine day as 
this, which also you may the better do, because it is 
worth nothing to fish in. Here, put it on ; and be sure 
to make the body of your fly as slender as you can. 
Very good ! Upon my word you have made a mar- 
vellous handsome fly. 

VlAT. I am very glad to hear it ; 't is the first that 
ever I made of this kind in my life. 

PlSC. Away, away ! You are a doctor at it : but I 
will not commend you too much, lest I make you 
proud. Come, put it on, and you shall now go down- 
ward to some streams betwixt the rocks below the 
little foot-bridge you see there, and try your fortune. 
Take heed of slipping into the water as you follow 
me under this rock. So, now you are over, and now 
throw in. 



334 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 

Viat. This is a fine stream indeed ! There 's one ! 
I have him. 

PlSC. And a precious catch you have of him ; pull 
him out ! I see you have a tender hand. This is a 
diminutive gentleman, e'en throw him in again, and 
let him grow till he be more worthy your anger. 

Viat. Pardon me, Sir, all 's fish that comes to the 
hook with me now. Another ! 

PlSC. And of the same standing. 

Viat. I see I shall have good sport now. Another ! 
and a Grayling. Why, you have fish here at will. 

Pise. Come, come, cross the bridge, and go down 
the other side, lower ; where you will find finer streams, 
and better sport, I hope, than this. Look you, Sir, 
here is a fine stream now. You have length enough, 
stand a little farther off, let me entreat you ; and do 
but fish this stream like an artist, and peradventure a 
good fish may fall to your share. How now ! What, 
is all gone ? 

Viat. No, I but touched him ; but that was a fish 
worth taking. 

PlSC. Why now, let me tell you, you lost that fish 
by your own fault, and through your own eagerness 
and haste ; for you are never to offer to strike a good 
fish, if he do not strike himself, till first you see 
him turn his head after he has taken your fly ; and 
then you can never strain your tackle in the striking, 
if you strike with any manner of moderation. Come, 
throw in once again, and fish me this stream by 
inches ; for I assure you here are very good fish : 
both Trout and Grayling lie here ; and at that great 




mmsSMm 






^Ca-na^/i^ . , . ,. 



Chap. VI.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 335 

stone on the other side, 't is ten to one a good Trout 
gives you the meeting. 

Viat. I have him now, but he has gone down to- 
wards the bottom. I cannot see what he is, yet he 
should be a good fish by his weight : but he makes no 
great stir. 

PiSC. Why then, by what you say, I dare venture 
to assure you 't is a Grayling, who is one of the dead- 
est-hearted fishes in the world ; and the bigger he is, 
the more easily taken. Look you, now you see him 
plain ; I told you what he was. Bring hither that 
landing-net, Boy. And now, Sir, he is your own ; 
and believe me a good one, sixteen inches long I war- 
rant him : I have taken none such this year. 

Viat. I never saw a Grayling before look so black. 

PiSC. Did you not ? Why then, let me tell you, that 
you never saw one before in right season ; for then a 
Grayling is very black about his head, gills, and down 
his back ; and has his belly of a dark gray, dappled 
with black spots, as you see this is ; and I am apt to 
conclude, that from thence he derives his name of 
Umber. Though I must tell you this fish is past his 
prime, and begins to decline, and was in better season 
at Christmas than he is now. But move on, for it 
grows towards dinner-time ; and there is a very great 
and fine stream below, under that rock, that fills the 
deepest pool in all the river, where you are almost sure 
of a good fish. 

VlAT. Let him come, I '11 try a fall with him. But 
I had thought that the Grayling had been always in 
season with the Trout, and had come in and gone out 
with him. 



336 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

PlSC. O no ! assure yourself a Grayling is a winter- 
fish ; but such a one as would deceive any but such as 
know him very well indeed ; for his flesh, even in his 
worst season, is so firm, and will so easily calver, that 
in plain truth he is very good meat at all times ; but 
in his perfect season, which, by the way, none but an 
overgrown Grayling will ever be, I think him so good 
a fish as to be little inferior to the best Trout that 
ever I tasted in my life. 

VlAT. Here 's another skip-jack ; and I have raised 
five or six more at least whilst you were speaking. 
Well, go thy way, little Dove ! thou art the finest river 
that ever I saw, and the fullest of fish. Indeed, Sir, I 
like it so well, that I am afraid you will be troubled 
with me once a year, so long as we two live. 

PlSC. I am afraid I shall not, Sir; but were you 
once here a May or a June, if good sport would tempt 
you, I should then expect you would sometimes see 
me ; for you would then say it were a fine river indeed, 
if you had once seen the sport at the height. 

VlAT. Which I will do, if I live, and that you 
please to give me leave. There was one ; and there 
another. 

PlSC. And all this in a strange river, and with a fly 
of your own making ! Why, what a dangerous man 
are you ! 

Viat. I, Sir, but who taught me ? and as Damcetas 
says by his man Dorus, so you may say by me, — 

" If my man such praises have, 
What then have I, that taught the knave? " 

But what have we got here ? A rock springing up 



Chap. VI.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 337 

in the middle of the river ! this is one of the oddest 
sights that ever I saw. 

PlSC. Why, Sir, from that Pike,* that you see stand- 
ing up there distant from the rock, this is called Pike- 
Pool. And young Mr. Izaak Walton was so pleased 
with it, as to draw it in landscape in black and white, 
in a blank book I have at home ; as he has done sev- 
eral prospects of my house also, which I keep for a 
memorial of his favor, and will show you, when we 
come up to dinner. 

Viat. Has young Master Izaak Walton been here 
too? 

PlSC. Yes, marry has he, Sir, and that again, and 
again too ; and in France since, and at Rome, and at 
Venice, and I can't tell where ; but I intend to ask 
him a great many hard questions so soon as I can see 
him, which will be, God willing, next month. In the 
mean time. Sir, to come to this fine stream at the head 
of this great pool, you must venture over these slip- 
pery, cobbling stones. Believe me, Sir, there you 
were nimble, or else you had been down ! But now 
you are got over, look to yourself; for, on my word, if 
a fish rise here, he is like to be such a one as will en- 
danger your tackle. How now ! 

Viat. I think you have such command here over 

* 'T is a rock in the fashion of a spire-steeple, and almost as big. It 
stands in the midst of the river Dove, and not far from Mr. Cotton's 
house ; below which place this delicate river takes a swift career be- 
twixt many mighty rocks, much higher and bigger than St. Paul's 
Church, before 't was burnt. And this Dove, being opposed by one of 
the highest of them, has at last forced itself a way through it ; and, after 
a mile's concealment, appears again with more glory and beauty than 
before that opposition, running through the most pleasant valleys and 
most fruitful meadows that this nation can justly boast of. 



338 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

the fishes, that you can raise them by your word, as 
they say conjurors can do spirits, and afterward make 
them do what you bid them ; for here 's a Trout has 
taken my fly ; I had rather have lost a crown. What 
luck 's this ! He was a lovely fish, and turned up a side 
like a salmon ! 

PiSC. O Sir, this is a war where you sometimes win, 
and must sometimes expect to lose. Never concern 
yourself for the loss of your fly ; for ten to one I teach 
you to make a better. Who 's that calls ? 

SERVANT. Sir, will it please you to come to dinner? 

PiSC. We come. You hear, Sir, we are called ; 
and now take your choice, whether you will climb this 
steep hill before you, from the top of which you will 
go directly into the house, or back again over these 
stepping-stones, and about by the bridge. 

Viat. Nay, sure the nearest way is best ; at least 
my stomach tells me so ; and I am now so well ac- 
quainted with your rocks, that I fear them not. 

PiSC. Come, then, follow me ; and so soon as we 
have dined, we will down again to the little house, 
where I will begin at the place I left off about fly-fish- 
ing, and read you another lecture ; for I have a great 
deal more to say upon that subject. 

Viat. The more the better ; I could never have 
met with a more obliging master, my first excepted ; 
nor such sport can all the rivers about London ever 
afford as is to be found in this pretty river. 

PiSC. You deserve to have better, both because I 
see you are. willing to take pains, and for liking this 
little so well ; and better I hope to show you before 
we part 




THE SECOND DAY. 



CHAPTER VII. 



Viator. 
/^OME, Sir ! having now well dined, and being 
^ — again set in your little house, I will now chal- 
lenge your promise, and entreat you to proceed in your 
instruction for Fly-fishing ; which, that you may be 



34° THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

the better encouraged to do, I will assure you that I 
have not lost, I think, one syllable of what you have 
told me ; but very well retain all your directions both 
for the rod, line, and making a fly, and now desire an 
account of the flies themselves. 

PlSC. Why, Sir, I am ready to give it you, and shall 
have the whole afternoon to do it in, if nobody come 
in to interrupt us; for you must know, b.esides the 
unfitness of the day, that the afternoons so early in 
March signify very little to angling with a fly ; though 
with a minnow, or a worm, something might, I con- 
fess, be done. 

To begin then where I left off. My Father Walton 
tells us but of twelve artificial-flies, to angle with at 
the top, and gives their names : of which some are 
common with us here ; and I think I guess at most of 
them by his description, and I believe they all breed, 
and are taken in our rivers, though we do not make 
them either of the same dubbing, or fashion. And it 
may be in the rivers about London, which I presume 
he has most frequented, and where 't is likely he has 
done most execution, there is not much notice taken 
of many more ; but we are acquainted with several 
others here, though, perhaps, I may reckon some of 
his by other names too ; but if I do, 1 shall make you 
amends by an addition to his catalogue. And al- 
though the forenamed great Master in the art of 
Angling, for so in truth he is, tells you that no man 
should in honesty catch a Trout till the middle of 
March, yet I hope he will give a man leave sooner 
to take a Grayling ; which, as I told you, is in the 



Chap. VII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 341 

dead months in his best season ; and do assure you, 
which I remember by a very remarkable token, I did 
once take upon the sixth day of December one, and 
only one, of the biggest Graylings, and the best in 
season, that ever I yet saw, or tasted ; and do usually 
take Trouts too, and with a fly, not only before the 
middle of this month, but almost every year in Feb- 
ruary, unless it be a very ill spring indeed ; and have 
sometimes in January, so early as New-year's-tide, 
and in frost and snow, taken Grayling in a warm sun- 
shine day for an hour or two about noon ; and to fish 
for him with a grub it is then the best time of all. 

I shall therefore begin my fly-fishing with that 
month, (though I confess very few begin so soon, and 
that such as are so fond of the sport as to embrace all 
opportunities, can rarely in that month find a day fit 
for their purpose,) and tell you that, upon my knowl- 
edge, these flies in a warm sun, for an hour or two in 
the day, are certainly taken. 



JANUARY. 

i. A Red Brown, with wings of the male of a 
mallard, almost white ; the dubbing, of the tail of a 
black long-coated cur, such as they commonly make 
muffs of ; for the hair on the tail of such a dog dyes 
and turns to a red brown, but the hair of a smooth- 
coated dog of the same color will not do, because it 
will not dye, but retains its natural color. And this 
fly is taken, in a warm sun, this whole month through. 

2 There is also a very little BRIGHT-DUN Gnat, 



342 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

as little as can possibly be made, so little as never to 
be fished with, with above one hair next the hook : 
and this is to be made of a mixed dubbing of mar- 
ten's fur, and the white of a hare's-scut ; with a very 
white and small wing. And 't is no great matter how 
fine you fish, for nothing will rise in this month but a 
Grayling ; and of them I never, at this season, saw 
any taken with a fly, of above a foot long, in my life ; 
but of little ones, about the bigness of a smelt, in a 
warm day and a glowing sun, you may take enough 
with these two flies ; and they are both taken the 
whole month through. 



FEBRUARY. 

i. Where the Red Brown of the last month ends, 
another, almost of the same color, begins with this ; 
saving, that the dubbing of this must be of something 
a blacker color, and both of them warpt on with red 
silk. The dubbing that should make this fly, and that 
is the truest color, is to be got off the black spot of a 
hog's ear : not that a black spot in any part of the 
hog will not afford the same color, but that the hair in 
that place is by many degrees softer, and more fit for 
the purpose : his wing must be as the other ; and this 
kills all this month, and is called the Lesser Red- 
Brown. 

2. This month also a PLAIN Hackle, or Palmer- 
fly, made with a rough black body, either of black 
spaniel's fur, or the whirl of an ostrich-feather, and 
the red hackle of a capon over all, will kill ; and, if 
the weather be right, make very good sport. 



Chap. VII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 343 

3. Also a Lesser Hackle with a black body also, 
silver-twist over that, and a red feather over all, will 
fill your pannier, if the month be open, and not bound 
up in ice, and snow, with very good fish ; but in case 
of a frost and snow, you are to angle only with the 
smallest gnats, browns, and duns, you can make ; and 
with those are only to expect Graylings no bigger than 
sprats. 

4. In this month, upon a whirling round water, we 
have a Great Hackle ; the body black, and wrapped 
with a red feather of a capon untrimmed ; that is, the 
whole length of the hackle staring out (for we some- 
times barb the Hackle-feather short all over, some- 
times barb it only a little, and sometimes barb it close 
underneath) ; leaving the whole length of the feather 
on the top or back of the fly, which makes it swim 
better, and, as occasion serves, kills very great fish. 

5. We make use also, in this month, of another 
Great Hackle ; the body black, and ribbed over 
with gold twist, and a red feather over all ; which also 
does great execution. 

6. Also a Great Dun, made with dun bear's hair, 
and the wings of the gray feather of a mallard near 
unto his tail ; which is absolutely the best fly can be 
thrown upon a river this month, and with which an 
angler shall have admirable sport. 

7. We have also this month the Great Blue Dun ; 
the dubbing of the bottom of bear's hair next to the 
roots, mixed with a little blue camlet ; the wings of 
the dark gray feather of a mallard. 

8. We have also this month a Dark Brown ; the 



344 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

dubbing of a brown hair off the flank of a brended 
cow, and the wings of the gray drake's feather. 

And note, that these several Hackles, or Palmer- 
flies, are some for one water and one sky, and some 
for another ; and, according to the change of those, 
we alter their size and color. And note also, that both 
in this, and all other months of the year, when you do 
not certainly know what fly is taken, or. cannot see 
any fish to rise, you are then to put on a small Hackle, 
if the water be clear, or a bigger, if something dark, 
until you have taken one ; and then, thrusting your 
finger through his gills, to pull out his gorge, which 
being opened with your knife, you will then discover 
what fly is taken, and may fit yourself accordingly. 

For the making of a Hackle, or Palmer-fly, my 
Father Walton has already given you sufficient di- 
rection. 

MARCH. 

For this month you are to use all the same Hackles, 
and flies with the other ; but you are to make them 
less. 

i. We have besides for this month, a little Dun 
called a Whirling-Dun, though it is not the Whirl- 
ing-Dun indeed, which is one of the best flies we 
have ; and for this the dubbing must be of the bottom 
fur of a squirrel's tail, and the wing of the gray feather 
of a drake. 

2. Also a Bright Brown ; the dubbing either of 
the brown of a spaniel, or that of a cow's flank, with 
a gray wing. 



Chap. VII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 345 

3. Also a Whitish Dun, made of the roots of 
camel's hair, and the wings of the gray feather of a 
mallard. 

4. There is also for this month a fly, called the 
Thorn-Tree Fly; the dubbing an absolute black, 
mixed with eight or ten hairs of Isabella-colored mo- 
hair, the body as little as can be made, and the wings 
of a bright mallard's feather : an admirable fly, and 
in great repute amongst us for a killer. 

5. There is, beside this, another Blue Dun, the 
dubbing of which it is made being thus to be got. 
Take a small-tooth comb, and with it comb the neck 
of a black greyhound, and the down that sticks in the 
teeth will be the finest blue that ever you saw. The 
wings of this fly can hardly be too white; and he is 
taken about the tenth of this month, and lasteth till 
the four-and-twentieth. 

6. From the tenth of this month also, till towards 
the end, is taken a little Black Gnat : the dubbing 
either of the fur of a black water-dog, or the down of 
a young black water-coot ; the wings of the male of a 
mallard, as white as may be ; the body as little as you 
can possibly make it, and the wings as short as his 
body. 

7. From the sixteenth of this month also, to the 
end of it, we use a Bright Brown ; the dubbing for 
which is to be had out of a skinner's lime-pits, and of 
the hair of an abortive calf, which the lime will turn 
to be so bright as to shine like gold ; for the wings of 
this fly, the feather of a brown hen is best ; which fly 
is also taken till the tenth of April. 



346 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part. II. 

APRIL. 

All the same Hackles and flies that were taken in 
March will be taken in this month also ; with this 
distinction only concerning the flies, that all the 
browns be lapped with red silk, and the duns with 
yellow. 

i. To these a Small Bright Brown, made of 
spaniel's fur, with a light gray wing, in a bright day 
and a clear water, is very well taken. 

2. We have too a little Dark Brown ; the dubbing 
of that color, and some violet camlet mixed, and the 
wing of a gray feather of a mallard. 

3. From the sixth of this month to the tenth, we 
have also a fly called the Violet-Fly ; made of a 
dark violet stuff, with the wings of the gray feather of 
a mallard. 

4. About the twelfth of this month comes in the fly 
called the Whirling-Dun, which is taken every day, 
about the mid-time of day, all this month through, 
and by fits from thence to the end of June ; and is 
commonly made of the down of a fox-cub, which is of 
an ash color at the roots, next the skin, and ribbed 
about with yellow silk ; the wings of the pale gray 
feather of a mallard. 

5. There is also a Yellow Dun ; the dubbing of 
camel's hair, and yellow camlet or wool, mixed, and a 
white-gray wing. 

6. There is also, this month, another Little 
Brown, besides that mentioned before ; made with 
a very slender body, the dubbing of dark brown, and 



Chap. VII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 347 

violet camlet mixed, and a gray wing ; which, though 
the direction for the making be near the other, is yet 
another fly; and will take when the other will not, 
especially in a bright day, and a clear water. 

7. About the twentieth of this month comes in a fly 
called the Horse-flesh Fly ; the dubbing of which 
is a blue mohair, with pink-colored and red tammy 
mixed, a light-colored wing, and a dark brown head. 
This fly is taken best in an evening, and kills from two 
hours before sunset till twilight ; and is taken the 
month through. 

MAY. 

And now, Sir, that we are entering into the month 
of May, I think it requisite to beg not only your atten- 
tion, but also your best patience ; for I must now be a 
little tedious with you, and dwell upon this month 
longer than ordinary ; which that you may the better 
endure, I must tell you, this month deserves and 
requires to be insisted on, forasmuch as it alone, and 
the next following, afford more pleasure to the Fly- 
Angler than all the rest. And here it is that you are 
to expect an account of the Green-Drake, and Stone- 
fly, promised you so long ago, and some others that 
are peculiar to this month, and part of the month fol- 
lowing ; and that, though not so great either in bulk 
or name, do yet stand in competition with the two 
before named ; and so, that it is yet undecided, 
amongst the anglers, to which of the pretenders to the 
title of the May-fly it does properly and duly belong. 
Neither dare I, where so many of the learned in this 



348 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

art of Angling are got in dispute about the contro- 
versy, take upon me to determine ; but I think I ought 
to have a vote amongst them, and according to that 
privilege shall give you my free opinion ; and perad- 
venture when I have told you all, you may incline to 
think me in the right. 

Viat. I have so great a deference to your judgment 
in these matters, that I must always be of. your opin- 
ion ; and the more you speak, the faster I grow to my 
attention, for I can never be weary of hearing you 
upon this subject. 

PlSC. Why that 's encouragement enough ; and now 
prepare yourself for a tedious lecture ; but I will first 
begin with the flies of less esteem, — though almost 
anything will take a Trout in May, — that I may after- 
wards insist the longer upon those of greater note and 
reputation. Know, therefore, that the first fly we take 
notice of in this month, is called 

i. The Turkey-Fly ; dubbing ravelled out of some 
blue stuff, and lapped about with yellow silk ; the wings 
of a gray mallard's feather. 

2. Next a Great Hackle or Palmer-Fly, with a 
YELLOW BODY ; ribbed with gold twist, and large 
wings of a mallard's feather dyed yellow, with a red 
capon's hackle over all. 

3. Then a Black Fly; the dubbing of a black 
spaniel's fur, and the wings of a gray mallard's 
feather. 

4. After that a Light Brown, with a slender body ; 
the dubbing twirled upon small red silk, and raised 
with the point of a needle, that the ribs or rows of 



Chap. VII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 349 

silk may appear through ; the wings of the gray 
feather of a mallard. 

5. Next a Little Dux ; the dubbing of a bear's 
dun whirled upon yellow silk, the wings of the gray 
feather of a mallard. 

6. Then a White Gnat, with a pale wing, and a 
black head. 

7. There is also this month a fly called the Pea- 
COCK-Fly ; the body made of a whirl of a peacock's 
feather, with a red head, and wings of a mallard's 
feather. 

8. We have then another very killing fly, known by 
the name of the Dun-Cut ; the dubbing of which is 
a bear's dun, with a little blue and yellow mixed with 
it, a large dun wing, and two horns at the head, made 
of the hairs of a squirrel's tail. 

9. The next is the Cow- Lady, a little fly ; the body 
of a peacock's feather, the wing of a red feather, or 
strips of the red hackle of a cock. 

10. We have then the Cow-Dung Fly; the dub- 
bing light-brown and yellow mixed, the wing the dark 
gray feather of a mallard. And note, that besides 
these above mentioned, all the same Hackles and flies, 
the Hackles only brighter, and the flies smaller, that 
are taken in April, will also be taken this month, as 
also all Browns and Duns. And now I come to my 
Stone- Fly, and Green-Drake, which are the Matadores 
for Trout and Grayling ; and, in their season, kill 
more fish in our Derbyshire rivers than all the rest, 
past and to come, in the whole year besides. 

But first I am to tell you, that we have four several 



350 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

flies which contend for the title of the May-fly : 
namely, 

The Green-Drake, 

The Stone-Fly, 

The Black-Fly, and 

The Little Yellow May-Fly. 
And all these have their champions and advocates 
to dispute, and plead their priority ; though I do not 
understand why the two last named should, the first 
two having so manifestly the advantage, both in their 
beauty, and the wonderful execution they do in their 
season. 

ii. Of these, the Green-Drake comes in about 
the twentieth of this month, or betwixt that and the 
latter end, for they are sometimes sooner, and some- 
times later, according to the quality of the year ; but 
never well taken till towards the end of this month, 
and the beginning of June. The Stone-Fly comes 
much sooner, so early as the middle of April ; but is 
never well taken till towards the middle of May, and 
continues to kill much longer than the Green-Drake 
stays with us, — so long as to the end almost of June ; 
and indeed, so long as there are any of them to be 
seen upon the water ; and sometimes in an artificial 
fly, and late at night, or before sunrise in a morning, 
longer. 

Now both these flies, and, I believe, many others, 
though I think not all, are certainly and demonstra- 
tively bred in the very rivers where they are taken : 
our Cadis or Cod-bait, which lie under stones in the 
bottom of the water, most of them turning into those 



Chap. VII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 351 

two flies ; and, being gathered in the husk, or crust, 
near the time of their maturity, are very easily known 
and distinguished ; and are of all other the most re- 
markable, both for their size, as being of all other the 
biggest, the shortest of them being a full inch long, or 
more, and for the execution they do, the Trout and 
Grayling being much more greedy of them than of 
any others ; and indeed, the Trout never feeds fat, 
nor comes into his perfect season, till these flies 
come in. 

Of these, the Green-Drake never discloses from his 
husk, till he be first there grown to full maturity, body, 
wings, and all ; and then he creeps out of his cell, but 
with his wings so crimped and ruffled, by being pressed 
together in that narrow room, that they are, for some 
hours, totally useless to him ; by which means he is 
compelled either to creep upon the flags, sedges, and 
blades of grass, if his first rising from the bottom of 
the water be near the banks of the river, till the air 
and sun stiffen and smooth them ; or, if his first ap- 
pearance above water happen to be in the middle, he 
then lies upon the surface of the water like a ship at 
hull ; for his feet are totally useless to him there, and 
he cannot creep upon the water as the Stone-fly can, 
until his wings have got stiffness to fly with, if by some 
Trout or Grayling he be not taken in the interim, 
which ten to one he is ; and then his wings stand high, 
and closed exact upon his back, like the butterfly, and 
his motion in flying is the same. His body is, in some, 
of a paler, in others, of a darker yellow, for they are 
not all exactly of a color ; ribbed with rows of green, 



352 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

long, slender, and growing sharp towards the tail, at 
the end of which he has three long small whisks of a 
very dark color, almost black, and his tail turns up 
towards his back like a mallard ; from whence, ques- 
tionless, he has his name of the Green-Drake. These, 
as I think I told you before, we commonly dape or 
dibble with ; and, having gathered great store of them 
into a long draw-box, with holes in the cover to give 
them air, where also they will continue fresh and vig- 
orous a night or more, we take them out thence by the 
wings, and bait them thus upon the hook. We first 
take one, for we commonly fish with two of them at a 
time, and, putting the point of the hook into the thick- 
est part of his body under one of his wings, run it 
directly through, and out at the other side, leaving 
him spitted cross upon the hook ; and then taking the 
other, put him on after the same manner, but with his 
head the contrary way; in which posture they will 
live upon the hook, and play with their wings for a 
quarter of an hour, or more ; but you must have a 
care to keep their wings dry, both from the water, 
and also that your fingers be not wet when you 
take them out to bait them ; for then your bait is 
spoiled. 

Having now told you how to angle with this fly 
alive, I am now to tell you next, how to make an arti- 
ficial-fly, that will so perfectly resemble him, as to be 
taken in a rough windy day when no flies can lie upon 
the water, nor are to be found about the banks and 
sides of the river, to a wonder ; and with which you 
shall certainly kill the best Trout and Grayling in the 
river. 



Chap. VII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 353 

The artificial Green-Drake, then, is made upon a 
large hook ; the dubbing, camel's hair, bright bear's 
hair, the soft down that is combed from a hog's bris- 
tles and yellow camlet, well mixed together ; the body 
long, and ribbed about with green silk, or rather yel- 
low, waxed with green wax, the whisks of the tail, of 
the long hairs of sables, or fitchet, and the wings of 
the white-gray feather of a mallard, dyed yellow ; 
which also is to be dyed thus. 

Take the root of a Barbary-tree, and shave it, and 
put to it woody viss, with as much alum as a walnut, 
and boil your feathers in it with rain-water ; and they 
will be of a very fine yellow. 

I have now done with the Green-Drake ; excepting 
to tell you, that he is taken at all hours during his 
season, whilst there is any day upon the sky ; and 
with a made-fly I once took, ten days after he was 
absolutely gone, in a cloudy day, after a shower, and 
in a whistling wind, five and thirty very great Trouts 
and Graylings, betwixt five and eight of the clock in 
the evening ; and had no less than five or six flies, 
with three good hairs apiece, taken from me in despite 
of my heart, besides. 

12. I should now come next to the Stone-fly, but 
there is another gentleman in my way, that must of 
necessity come in between ; and that is the Gray- 
Drake, which, in all shapes and dimensions, is per- 
fectly the same with the other, but quite almost of 
another color ; being of a paler and more livid yellow 
and green, and ribbed with black quite down his body, 
with black, shining wings, and so diaphanous and 



354 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. IPart II. 

tender, cobweb-like, that they are of no manner of use 
for daping, but come in and are taken after the Green- 
Drake, and in an artificial fly kill very well ; which fly 
is thus made : the dubbing of the down of a hog's 
bristles, and black spaniel's fur, mixed, and ribbed 
down the body with black silk, the whisks of the hairs 
of the beard of a black cat, and the wings of the 
black-gray feather of a mallard. 

And now I come to the Stone-Fly, but am afraid 
I have already wearied your patience ; which if I have 
I beseech you freely tell me so, and I will defer the 
remaining instructions for Fly-Angling till some other 
time. 

Viat. No, truly, Sir, I can never be weary of hear- 
ing you. But if you think fit, because I am afraid I 
am too troublesome, to refresh yourself with a glass 
and a pipe : you may afterwards proceed, and I shall 
be exceedingly pleased to hear you. 

PlSC. I thank you, Sir, for that motion ; for, believe 
me, I am dry with talking. Here, Boy ! give us here 
a bottle, and a glass ; and, Sir, my service to you, and 
to all our friends in the South. 

Viat. Your servant, Sir, and I '11 pledge you as 
heartily ; for the good powdered beef I eat at dinner, 
or something else, has made me thirsty. 




//r 



'//://. 




THE SECOND DAY. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



s 



Viator. 

O, Sir, I am now ready for another lesson, so soon 

as you please to give it me. 

PlSC. And I, Sir, as ready to give you the best I 

can. Having told you the time of the Stone-fly's 

coming in, and that he is bred of a cadis in the 



356 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

very river where he is taken, I am next to tell you, 
that, 

13. This same Stone-Fly has not the patience to 
continue in his crust, or husk, till his wings be full 
grown ; but so soon as ever they begin to put out, 
that he feels himself strong (at which time we call him 
a Jack), squeezes himself out of prison, and crawls to 
the top of some stone ; where, if he can .find a chink 
that will receive him, or can creep betwixt two stones, 
the one lying hollow upon the other, (which, by the 
way, we also lay so purposely to find them,) he there 
lurks till his wings be full grown, and there is your 
only place to find him ; and from thence doubtless he 
derives his name: — though, for want of such con- 
venience, he will make shift with the hollow of a bank, 
or any other place where the wind cannot come to 
fetch him off. His body is long, and pretty thick, and 
as broad at the tail, almost, as in the middle : his color 
a very fine brown, ribbed with yellow, and much yel- 
lower on the belly than the back : he has two or three 
whisks also at the tag of his tail, and two little horns 
upon his head : his wings, when full grown, are double, 
and flat down his back, of the same color but rather 
darker than his body, and longer than it ; though he 
makes but little use of them, for you shall rarely 
see him flying, though often swimming and paddling, 
with several feet he has under his belly, upon the 
water, without stirring a wing. But the Drake will 
mount steeple-high into the air ; though he is to be 
found upon flags and grass too, and, indeed, every- 
where high and low near the river ; there being so 



Chap. VIII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 357 

many of them in their season, as, were they not a very 
inoffensive insect, would look like a plague : and these 
Drakes (since I forgot to tell you before, I will tell you 
here) are taken by the fish to that incredible degree, 
that, upon a calm day, you shall see the still-deeps 
continually all over circles by the fishes rising, who will 
gorge themselves with those flies, till they purge again 
out of their gills : and the Trouts are at that time so 
Justy and strong, that one of eight or ten inches long 
will then more struggle and tug, and more endanger 
your tackle, than one twice as big in winter : but par- 
don this digression. 

This Stone-Fly, then, we dape or dibble with, as 
with the Drake, but with this difference : that whereas 
the Green-Drake is common both to stream and still, 
and to all hours of the day, we seldom dape with this 
but in the streams, for in a whistling wind a made-fly 
in the deep is better, — and rarely but early and late, it 
not being so proper for the mid-time of the day ; 
though a great Grayling will then take it very well in 
a sharp stream, and here and there a Trout too, but 
much better towards eight, nine, ten, or eleven of the 
clock at night, at which time also the best fish rise, 
and the later the better, provided you can see your 
fly ; and when you cannot, a made-fly will murder, 
which is to be made thus : the dubbing of bear's dun 
with a little brown and yellow camlet very well mixed ; 
but so placed, that your fly may be more yellow on the 
belly and towards the tail underneath than in any 
other part ; and you are to place two or three hairs of 
a black cat's beard on the top of the hook, in your 



358 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

arming, so as to be turned up, when you warp on your 
dubbing, and to stand almost upright, and staring one 
from another: and note that your fly is to be ribbed 
with yellow silk ; and the wings long, and very large, 
of the dark gray feather of a mallard. 

14. The next May-fly is the Black-Fly ; made 
with a black body, of the whirl of an ostrich-feather, 
ribbed with silver-twist, and the black hackle of a 
cock over all ; and is a killing fly, but not to be named 
with either of the other. 

15. The last May-fly, that is of the four pretenders, 
is the Little Yellow May-Fly ; in shape exactly 
the same with the Green-Drake, but a very little one, 
and of as bright a yellow as can be seen ; which is 
made of a bright yellow camlet, and the wings of a 
white-gray feather dyed yellow. 

16. The last fly for this month, and which continues 
all June, though it comes in in the middle of May, is 
the fly called the Camlet-Fly ; in shape like a moth, 
with fine diapered, or water-wings, and with which, as 
I told you before, I sometimes used to dibble ; and 
Grayling will rise mightily at it. But the artificial fly, 
which is only in use amongst our Anglers, is made of 
a dark-brown shining camlet, ribbed over with a very 
small light-green silk, the wings of the double-gray 
feather of a mallard ; and 't is a killing fly for small 
fish. And so much for May. 

JUNE. 

From the first to the four-and-twentieth, the Green- 
Drake and Stone-fly are taken, as I told you before. 



Chap. VIII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 359 

1. From the twelfth to the four-and-twentieth, late 
at night, is taken a fly, called the Owl-Fly, the dub- 
bing of a white weasel's tail, and a white-gray wing. 

2. We have then another Dun, called the Barm- 
Fly, from its yeasty color ; the dubbing of the fur of 
a yellow-dun cat, and a gray wing of a mallard's 
feather. 

3. We have also a Hackle with a purple body, 
whipped about with a red capon's feather. 

4. As also a Gold-twist Hackle with a purple 
body, whipped about with a red capon's feather. 

5. To these we have, this month, a Flesh-Fly ; 
the dubbing of a black spaniel's fur, and blue wool 
mixed, and a gray wing. 

6. Also another Little Flesh-Fly ; the body 
made of the whirl of a peacock's feather, and the 
wings of the gray feather of a drake. 

7. We have then the Peacock-Fly ; the body and 
wing both made of the feather of that bird. 

8. There is also the Flying-Ant, or Ant-Fly ; the 
dubbing of brown and red camlet mixed, with a light 
gray wing. 

9. We have likewise a Brown Gnat ; with a very 
slender body of brown and violet camlet well mixed, 
and a light gray wing. 

10. And another little BLACK Gnat ; the dubbing 
of black mohair, and a white-gray wing. 

11. As also a Green Grasshopper; the dubbing 
of green and yellow wool rm'xed, ribbed over with 
green silk, and a red capon's feather over all. 

12. And lastly, a little DUN GRASSHOPPER; the 



360 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

body slender, made of a dun camlet, and a dun hackle 
at the top. 

JULY. 

First, all the small flies that were taken in June are 
also taken in this month. 

1. We have then the Orange-Fly ; the dubbing 
of orange wool, and the wings of a black feather. 

2. Also a little White Dun;. the body made of 
white mohair, and the wings blue, of a heron's feather. 

3. We have likewise this month a Wasp-Fly ; 
made either of a dark brown dubbing, or else the 
fur of a black cat's tail, ribbed about with yellow 
silk, and the wing of the gray feather of a mallard. 

4. Another fly taken this month is a Black-Hac- 
kle ; the body made of the whirl of a peacock's feath- 
er, and a black hackle-feather on the top. 

5. We have also another, made of a peacock's 
whirl without wings. 

6. Another fly also is taken this month, called the 
Shell-Fly ; the dubbing of yellow-green Jersey-wool, 
and a little white hog's hair mixed, which I call the 
Palm-fly : and do believe it is taken for a palm, that 
drops off the willows into the water ; for this fly I have 
seen Trouts take little pieces of moss, as they have 
swam down the river ; by which I conclude that the 
best way to hit the right color is to compare your 
dubbing with the moss, and mix the colors as near as 
you can. 

7. There is also taken this month, a Black-Blue 
Dun ; the dubbing of the fur of a black rabbit mixed 
with a little yellow, the wings of the feather of a blue 
pigeon's wing. 



Chap. VIII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 361 

AUGUST. 

The same flies with July. 

1. Then another Ant-Fly ; the dubbing of the 
black-brown hair of a cow, some red warped in for 
the tag of his tail, and a dark wing. A killing fly. 

2. Next a fly called a Fern-Fly ; the dubbing of 
the fur of a hare's neck, that is, of the color of fern 
or bracken, with a darkish-gray wing of a mallard's 
feather. A killer too. 

3. Besides these we have a White Hackle ; the 
body of white mohair, and warped about with a white 
hackle-feather ; and this is assuredly taken for thistle- 
down. 

4. We have also this month a Harry- Long-Legs ; 
the body made of bear's dun and blue wool mixed, 
and a brown hackle-feather over all. 

Lastly, In this month all the same browns and duns 
are taken that were taken in May. 

SEPTEMBER. 

This month the same flies are taken that are taken 
in April. 

1. To which I shall only add a Camel-Brown Fly ; 
the dubbing pulled out of the lime of a wall, whipped 
about with red silk, and a darkish-gray mallard's 
feather for the wing. 

2. And one other, for which we have no name, but 
it is made of the black hair of a badger's skin, mixed 
with the yellow softest down of a sanded hog. 



362 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

OCTOBER. 

The same flies are taken this month that were 
taken in March. 

NOVEMBER. 

The same flies that were taken in February are 
taken this month also. 

DECEMBER. 

Few men angle with the fly this month, no more 
than they do in January; but yet, if the weather be 
warm, — as I have known it sometimes in my life to 
be, even in this cold country, where it is least ex- 
pected, — then a brown that looks red in the hand, 
and yellowish betwixt your eye and the sun, will 
both raise and kill in a clear water, and free from 
snow-broth ; but, at the best, 't is hardly worth a 
man's labor. 

And now, Sir, I have done with Fly-fishing, or an- 
gling at the top ; excepting once more to tell you, that 
of all these, — and I have named you a great many 
very killing flies, — none are fit to be compared with 
the Drake and Stone-Fly, both for many and very great 
fish. And yet there are some days that are by no 
means proper for the sport ; and in a calm you shall 
not have near so much sport, even with daping, as in 
a whistling gale of wind, for two reasons, both because 
you are not then so easily discovered by the fish, and 
also because there are then but few flies that can lie 
upon the water ; for where they have so much choice, 



Chap. VIII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 363 

you may easily imagine they will not be so eager and 
forward to rise at a bait, that both the shadow of your 
body, and that of your rod, nay, of your very line, in 
a hot, calm day, will, in spite of your best caution, 
render suspected to them ; but even then, in swift 
streams, or by sitting down patiently behind a willow- 
bush, you shall do more execution than at almost any 
other time of the year with any other fly ; though one 
may sometimes hit of a day, when he shall come home 
very well satisfied with sport with several other flies. 
But with these two, the Green-Drake and the Stone- 
Fly, I do verily believe I could, some days in my life, 
had I not been weary of slaughter, have loaden a 
lusty boy ; and have sometimes, I do honestly assure 
you, given over upon the mere account of satiety of 
sport ; which will be no hard matter to believe, when 
I likewise assure you that, with this very fly, I have, 
in this very river that runs by us, in three or four 
hours, taken thirty, five and thirty, and forty of the 
best Trouts in the river. What shame and pity is it, 
then, that such a river should be destroyed by the 
basest sort of people, by those unlawful ways of fire 
and netting in the night, and of damming, groping, 
spearing, hanging, and hooking by day ! which are now 
grown so common, that, though we have very good 
laws to punish such offenders, every rascal does it, for 
aught I see, impune. 

To conclude, I cannot now, in honesty, but frankly 
tell you, that many of these flies I have named, at 
least so made as we make them here, will peradven- 
ture do you no great service in your southern rivers ; 



364 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



[Part II. 



and will not conceal from you but that I have sent 
flies to several friends in London, that, for aught I 
could ever hear, never did any great feats with them ; 
and, therefore, if you intend to profit by my instruc- 
tions, you must come to angle with me here in the 
Peak ; and so, if you please, let us walk up to supper ; 
and to-morrow, if the day be windy, as our days here 
commonly are, 't is ten to one but we shall take a good 
dish of fish for dinner. 




Chap. IX.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 365 

THE THIRD DAY. 
CHAPTER IX. 

PlSCATOR. 

A GOOD day to you, Sir ; I see you will always be 
f * stirring before me. 

VlAT. Why, to tell you the truth, I am so allured 
with the sport I had yesterday, that I long to be at the 
river again ; and when I heard the wind sing in my 
chamber-window, could forbear no longer, but leap 
out of bed, and had just made an end of dressing my- 
self as you came in. 

PlSC. Well, I am both glad you are so ready for the 
day, and that the day is so fit for you. And look you, 
I have made you three or four flies this morning ; 
this silver-twist hackle, this bear's dun, this light 
brown, and this dark brown, any of which I dare say 
will do ; but you may try them all, and see which 
does best : only I must ask your pardon that I cannot 
wait upon you this morning, a little business being 
fallen out, that for two or three hours will deprive me 
of your company ; but I '11 come and call you home to 
dinner, and my man shall attend you. 

VlAT. O, Sir, mind your affairs by all means. Do 
but lend me a little of your skill to these fine flies, 
and, unless it have forsaken me since yesterday, I shall 
find luck of my own, I hope, to do something. 

PlSC. The best instruction I can give you, is that, 
seeing the wind curls the water, and blows the right 



3 66 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



[Part II. 



way, you would now angle up the still-deep to-day ; for 
betwixt the rocks where the streams are you would 
find it now too brisk ; and, besides, I would have you 
take fish in both waters. 

Viat. I '11 obey your direction, and so a good 
morning to you. Come, young man, let you and I 
walk together. But hark you, Sir, I have not done 
with you yet ; I expect another lesson for angling at 
the bottom, in the afternoon. 

PlSC. Well, Sir, I '11 be ready for you. 




Chap. X.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 367 

THE THIRD DAY. 
CHAPTER X. 

PlSCATOR. 

/~\ SIR, are you returned? You have but just pre- 
^— ' vented me. I was coming to call you. 

Viat. I am glad, then, I have saved you the labor. 

PlSC. And how have you sped ? 

Viat. You shall see that, Sir, presently : look you, 
Sir, here are three * brace of Trouts, 

* Spoke like a 
one of them the biggest but One that South -Country- 
man. 

ever I killed with a fly in my life ; and 
yet I lost a bigger than that, with my fly to boot ; and 
here are three Graylings, and one of them longer by 
some inches than that I took yesterday, and yet I 
thought that a good one too. 

PlSC. Why you have made a pretty good morning's 
work on 't ; and now, Sir, what think you of our river 
Dove ? 

Viat. I think it to be the best Trout-river in Eng- 
land ; and am so far in love with it, that if it were 
mine, and that I could keep it to myself, I would not 
exchange that water for all the land it runs over, to be 
totally debarred from it. 

PlSC. That compliment to the river speaks you a 
true lover of the art of Angling; and now, Sir, to 
make part of amends for sending you so uncivilly out 
alone this morning, I will myself dress you this dish 



368 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

of fish for your dinner ; walk but into the parlor, you 
will find one book or other in the window to entertain 
you the while ; and you shall have it presently. 
VlAT. Well, Sir, I obey you. 

Pise. Look you, Sir ! have I not made haste ? 

Viat. Believe me, Sir, that you have ; and it looks 
so well, I long to be at it. 

PlSC. Fall to, then. Now, Sir, what say you, am I 
a tolerable cook or no ? 

Viat. So good a one, that I did never eat so good 
fish in my life. This fish is infinitely better than any 
I ever tasted of the kind in my life. 'T is quite another 
thing than our Trouts about London. 

PlSC. You would say so, if that Trout you eat of 
were in right season ; but pray eat of the Grayling, 
which, upon my word, at this time, is by much the 
better fish. 

VlAT. In earnest, and so it is. And I have one re- 
quest to make to you, which is, that as you have taught 
me to catch Trout and Grayling, you will now teach 
me how to dress them as these are dressed ; which, 
questionless, is of all other the best way. 

PlSC. That I will, Sir, with all my heart ; and am 
glad you like them so well, as to make that request. 
And they are dressed thus : — 

Take your Trout, wash, and dry him with a clean 
napkin ; then open him, and, having taken out his 
guts, and all the blood, wipe him very clean within, 
but wash him not ; and give him three scotches with a 
knife to the bone, on one side only. After which take 



Chap. X.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 369 

a clean kettle, and put in as much hard stale beer 
(but it must not be dead), vinegar, and a little white 
wine, and water, as will cover the fish you intend to 
boil ; then throw into the liquor a good quantity of 
salt, the rind of a lemon, a handful of sliced horse- 
radish root, with a handsome little fagot of rosemary, 
thyme, and winter-savory. Then set your kettle upon 
a quick fire of wood, and let your liquor boil up to the 
height before you put in your fish ; and then, if there 
be many, put them in one by one, that they may not 
so cool the liquor, as to make it fall. And whilst your 
fish is boiling, beat up the butter for your sauce with 
a ladleful or two of the liquor it is boiling in. And, 
being boiled enough, immediately pour the liquor from 
the fish ; and, being laid in a dish, pour your butter 
upon it ; and, strewing it plentifully over with shaved 
horse-radish, and a little pounded ginger, garnish your 
sides of your dish, and the fish itself with a sliced 
lemon or two, and serve it up. 

A Grayling is also to be dressed exactly after the 
same manner, saving that he is to be scaled, which a 
Trout never is ; and that must be done, either with 
one's nails, or very lightly and carefully with a knife 
for bruising the fish. And note, that these kinds of 
fish, a Trout especially, if he is not eaten within four 
or five hours after he be taken, is worth nothing. 

But come, Sir, I see you have dined ; and, therefore, 
if you please, we will walk down again to the little 
House, and there I will read you a lecture of Angling 
at the Bottom. 




THE THIRD DAY. 



CHAPTER XI. 



Viator. 
O 0, Sir, now we are here, and set, let me have my 
**-* instructions for Angling for Trout and Grayling, 
at the Bottom ; which, though not so easy, so cleanly, 
nor, as 't is said, so genteel, a way of fishing, as with a 
fly, is yet (if I mistake not) a good holding way, and 
takes fish when nothing else will. 



Chap. XL] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 37 1 

PlSC. You are in the right, it does so ; and a worm 
is so sure a bait at all times, that, excepting in a flood, 
I would I had laid a thousand pounds that 1 killed 
fish more or less with it, winter or summer, every day 
throughout the year ; those days always excepted that, 
upon a more serious account, always ought so to be. 
But not 'longer to delay you, I will begin : and tell 
you, that Angling at the Bottom is also commonly of 
two sorts ; — and yet there is a third way of angling 
with a ground-bait, and to very great effect too, as 
shall be said hereafter ; — namely, by Hand, or with a 
Cork or Float. 

That we call Angling by Hand is of three sorts. 

The first : with a line about half the length of the 
rod, a good weighty plumb, and three hairs next the 
hook, which we call a running-line, and with one large 
brandling, or a dew-worm of a moderate size, or two 
small ones of the first, or any other sort, proper for a 
Trc it, of which my Father Walton has already given 
you the names, and saved me a labor ; or, indeed, 
almost any worm whatever ; for if a Trout be in the 
humor to bite, it must be such a worm as I never yet 
saw that he will refuse ; and if you fish with two, you 
are then to bait your hook thus. You are first to run 
the point of your hook in at the very head of your 
first worm, and so down through his body till it be 
past the knot, and then let it out, and strip the worm 
above the arming (that you may not bruise it with 
your fingers) till you have put on the other, by running 
the point of the hook in below the knot, and upwards 
through his body towards his head ; till it be but just 



37 2 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part If. 

covered with the head, which being done, you are then 
to slip the first worm down over the arming again, till 
the knots of both worms meet together. 

The second way of angling by hand, and with a 
running-line, is with a line something longer than the 
former, and with tackle made after this same manner. 
At the utmost extremity of your line, where the hook 
is always placed in all other ways of angling, you are 
to have a large pistol or carabine bullet, into which 
the end of your line is to be fastened with a peg or 
pin, even and close with the bullet ; and, about half a 
foot above that, a branch of line, of two or three 
handfuls long, or more for a swift stream, with a hook 
at the end thereof baited with some of the forenamed 
worms ; and another, half foot above that ; another, 
armed and baited after the same manner, but with 
another sort of worm, without any lead at all above : 
by which means you will always certainly find the true 
bottom in all depths ; which, with the plumbs upon 
your line above you can never do, but that your bait 
must always drag whilst you are sounding (which, in 
this way of Angling, must be continually), by which 
means you are like to have more trouble, and perad- 
venture worse success. And both these ways of an- 
gling at the bottom are most proper for a dark and 
muddy water ; by reason that in such a condition of 
the stream, a man may stand as near as he will, and 
neither his own shadow nor the roundness of his 
tackle will hinder his sport. 

The third way of angling by hand with a ground- 
bait, and by much the best of all other, is, with a line 



Chap. XL] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 373 

full as long, or a yard and a half longer than your 
rod ; with no more than one hair next the hook, and 
for two or three lengths above it ; and no more than 
one small pellet of shot for your plumb : your hook 
little ; your worms of the smaller brandlings, very well 
scoured ; and only one upon your hook at a time, 
which is thus to be baited : the point of your hook is 
to be put in at the very tag of his tail, and run up his 
body quite over all the arming, and still stripped on 
an inch at least upon the hair ; the head and remain- 
ing part hanging downward. And with this line and 
hook, thus baited, you are evermore to angle in the 
streams ; always in a clear, rather than a troubled 
water, and always up the river, still casting out 
your worm before you with a light one-handed rod, 
like an artificial fly ; where it will be taken, sometimes 
at the top, or within a very little of the superficies of 
the water, and almost always before that light plumb 
can sink it to the bottom ; both by reason of the 
stream, and also that you must always keep your worm 
in motion by drawing still back towards you, as if you 
were angling with a fly. And believe me, whoever will 
try it, shall find this the best way of all other to angle 
with a worm, in a bright water especially ; but then 
his rod must be very light and pliant, and very true 
and finely made ; which, with a skilful hand, will do 
wonders, and in a clear stream is undoubtedly the 
best way of angling for a Trout or Grayling, with a 
worm, by many degrees, that any man can make 
choice of, and of most ease and delight to the angler. 
To which let me add, that if the angler be of a con- 



374 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

stitution that will suffer him to wade, and will slip into 
the tail of a shallow stream, to the calf of the leg or 
the knee, and so keep off the bank, he shall almost 
take what fish he pleases. 

The second way of angling at the bottom is with a 
cork or float. And that is also of two sorts : with a 
Worm, or with a Grub or Cadis. 

With a Worm, you are to have your line within a 
foot, or a foot and a half, as long as your rod, in 
a dark water with two, or, if you will, with three ; but 
in a clear water never with above one hair next the 
hook, and two or three for four or five lengths above 
it ; and a worm of what size you please : your plumbs 
fitted to your cork, your cork to the condition of the 
river (that is, to the swiftness or slowness of it), and 
both, when the water is very clear, as fine as you can ; 
and then you are never to bait with above one of the 
lesser sort of brandlings; or, if they are very little 
ones indeed, you may then bait with two after the 
manner before directed. 

When you angle for a Trout, you are to do it as 
deep, that is, as near the bottom as you can, provided 
your bait do not drag ; or if it do, a Trout will some- 
times take it in that posture. If for a Grayling, you 
are then to fish further from the bottom, he being a 
fish that usually swims nearer to the middle of the 
water, and lies always loose ; or, however, is more apt 
to rise than a Trout, and more inclined to rise than to 
descend even to a ground-bait. 

With a Grub or Cadis, you are to angle with the 
same length of line, or if it be all out as long as 



Chap. XI] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 375 

your rod, 't is not the worse ; with never above one 
hair for two or three lengths next the hook, and with 
the smallest cork or float, and the least weight of 
plumb you can that will but sink, and that the swift- 
ness of your stream will allow : which also you may 
help, and avoid the violence of the current, by angling 
in the returns of a stream, or the eddies betwixt two 
streams ; which also are the most likely places wherein 
to kill a fish in a stream, either at the top or bottom. 

Of Grubs for a Grayling, the Ash-grub, which is 
plump, milk-white, bent round from head to tail, and 
exceeding tender, with a red head ; or the Dock-worm, 
or grub, of a pale yellow, longer, lanker, and tougher 
than the other, with rows of feet all down his belly, 
and a red head also ; are the best, I say, for a Gray- 
ling : because, although a Trout will take both these* 
the Ash-grub especially, yet he does not do it so freely 
as the other, and I have usually taken ten Graylings 
for one Trout' with that bait ; though if a Trout come, 
I have observed that he is commonly a very good one. 

These baits we usually keep in bran, in which an Ash- 
grub commonly grows tougher, and will better endure 
baiting ; though he is yet so tender, that it will be ne- 
cessary to warp in a piece of a stiff hair with your arm- 
ing, leaving it standing out about a straw-breadth at 
the head of your hook, so as to keep the grub either 
from slipping totally off when baited, or at least down 
to the point of the hook, by which means your arming 
will be left wholly naked and bare, which is neither so 
sightly, nor so likely to be taken : though, to help 
that, which will however very oft fall out, I always 



376 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

arm the hook I design for this bait with the whitest 
horse-hair I can choose ; which itself will resemble, 
and shine like that bait, and consequently will do 
more good, or less harm, than an arming of any other 
color. These grubs are to be baited thus : the hook 
is to be put in under the head or chaps of the bait, 
and guided down the middle of the belly, without suf- 
fering it to peep out by the way (for. then, the Ash- 
grub especially, will issue out water and milk, till 
nothing but the skin shall remain, and the bend of 
the hook will appear black through it) till the point of 
your hook come so low, that the head of your bait 
may rest, and stick upon the hair that stands out to 
hold it ; by which means it can neither slip of itself, 
neither will the force of the stream, nor quick pulling 
out, upon any mistake, strip it off. 

Now the Cadis, or Cod-bait, which is a sure killing 
bait, and, for the most part, by much surer than 
either of the other, may be put upon the hook, two or 
three together ; and is sometimes, to very great effect, 
joined to a worm, and sometimes to an artificial fly 
to cover the point of the hook ; but is always to be 
angled with at the bottom, when by itself especially, 
with the finest tackle ; and is for all times of the year 
the most holding-bait of all other whatever, both for 
Trout and Grayling. 

There are several other baits, besides these few I 
have named you, which also do very great execution 
at the bottom ; and some that are peculiar to certain 
countries and rivers, of which every Angler may in 
his own place make his own observation ; and some 



Chap. XI.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 377 

others that I do not think fit to put you in mind of, 
because I would not corrupt you, and would have you, 
— as in all things else I observe you to be a very 
honest gentleman, a fair Angler. And so much for 
the second sort of angling for a Trout at the bottom. 

Viat. But, Sir, I beseech you give me leave to ask 
you one question. Is there no art to be used to worms, 
to make them allure the fish, and in a manner compel 
them to bite at the bait ? 

PlSC. Not that I know of: or did I know any such 
secret, 1 would not use it myself, and therefore would 
not teach it you. Though I will not deny to you 
that, in my younger days, I have made trial of Oil of 
Osprey, Oil of Ivy, Camphor, Assafcetida, Juice of 
Nettles, and several other devices that I was taught 
by several Anglers I met with, but could never find 
any advantage by them ; and can scarce believe there 
is anything to be done that way : though I must tell 
you, I have seen some men, who I thought went to 
work no more artificially than I, and have yet with the 
same kind of worms I had, in my own sight, taken 
five, and sometimes ten, for one. But we '11 let that 
business alone, if you please. And, because we have 
time enough, and that I would deliver you from the 
trouble of any more lectures, I will, if you please, 
proceed to the last way of angling for a Trout or 
Grayling, which is in the middle ; after which I shall 
have no more to trouble you with. 

Viat. 'T is no trouble, Sir, but the greatest satis- 
faction that can be, and I attend you. 




THE THIRD DAY 



CHAPTER XII. 

PlSCATOR. 
A NGLING in the Middle, then, for Trout or Gray- 
■*^~ ling, is of two sorts : with a Penk or Minnow for a 
Trout ; or with a Worm, Grub, or Cadis for a Grayling. 
For the first ; it is with a Minnow, half a foot, or a 
foot, within the superficies of the water. And as to 
the rest that concerns this sort of Angling, I shall 
wholly refer you to Mr. Walton's direction, who is un- 
doubtedly the best Angler with a Minnow in Eng- 
land : only in plain truth I do not approve of those 
baits he keeps in salt, — unless where the living ones 
are not possibly to be had (though I know he fre- 
quently kills with them, and peradventure more than 






Chap. XII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 379 

with any other, nay, I have seen him refuse a living 
one for one of them), — and much less of his artificial 
one ; for though we do it with a counterfeit-fly, mc- 
thinks it should hardly be expected that a man should 
deceive a fish with a counterfeit-fish. Which having 
said, I shall only add, and that out of my own ex- 
perience, that I do believe a Bull-head, with his gill- 
fins cut off, at some times of the year especially, to be 
a much better bait for a Trout than a Minnow, and a 
Loach much better than that : to prove which I shall 
only tell you, that I have much oftener taken Trouts 
with a Bull-head or a Loach in their throats (for there 
a Trout has questionless his first digestion) than a 
Minnow ; and that one day especially, having angled 
a good part of the day with a Minnow, and that in as 
hopeful a day, and as fit a water, as could be wished 
for that purpose, without raising any one fish ; I at 
last fell to it with the worm, and with that took four- 
teen in a very short space ; amongst all which there 
was not, to my remembrance, so much as one that 
had not a Loach or two, and some of them three, four, 
five, and six Loaches, in his throat and stomach ; 
from whence I concluded, that, had I angled with that 
bait, 1 had made a notable day's work of 't. 

But, after all, there is a better way of angling with 
a Minnow than perhaps is fit either to teach or to 
practise : to which I shall only add, that a Grayling 
will certainly rise at, and sometimes take a Minnow, 
though it will be hard to be believed by any one, who 
shall consider the littleness of that fish's mouth, very 
unfit to take so great a bait ; but 't is affirmed by many, 
that he will sometimes do it, and I myself know it to 



380 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. 

be true ; for though I never took a Grayling so, yet a 
man of mine once did, and within so few paces of me, 
that I am as certain of it as I can be of anything I did 
not see ; and, which made it appear the more strange, 
the Grayling was not above eleven inches long. 

I must here also beg leave of your Master, and 
mine, not to controvert, but to tell him, that I cannot 
consent to his way of throwing in his rod to an over- 
grown Trout, and afterwards recovering his fish with 
his tackle. For though I am satisfied he has some- 
times done it, because he says so, yet I have found it 
quite otherwise ; and though I have taken with the 
Angle, I may safely say, some thousands of Trouts in 
my life, my top never snapped (though my line still 
continued fast to the remaining part of my rod, by 
some lengths of line curled round about my top, and 
there fastened with waxed silk, against such an acci- 
dent) nor my hand never slacked, or slipped by any 
other chance, but I almost always infallibly lost my 
fish, whether great or little, though my hook came 
home again. And I have often wondered how a Trout 
should so suddenly disengage himself from so great a 
hook as that we bait with a Minnow, and so deep- 
bearded as those hooks commonly are ; when I have 
seen by the forenamed accidents, or the slipping of a 
knot in the upper part of the line, by sudden and hard 
striking, that though the line has immediately been 
recovered, almost before it could be all drawn into the 
water, the fish cleared, and was gone in a moment. 
And yet, to justify what he says, I have sometimes 
known a Trout, having carried away a whole line, 
found dead three or four days after, with the hook fast 



Chap. XII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 38 1 

sticking in him ; but then it is to be supposed he had 
gorged it, which a Trout will do, if you be not too 
quick with him, when he comes at a Minnow, as sure 
and much sooner than a Pike ; and I myself have 
also, once or twice in my life, taken the same fish with 
my own fly sticking in his chaps, that he had taken 
from me the day before, by the slipping of a hook in 
the arming. But I am very confident a Trout will not 
be troubled two hours with any hook, that has so 
much as one handful of line left behind with it, or that 
is not struck through a bone, if it be in any part of his 
mouth only : nay, I do certainly know that a Trout, 
so soon as ever he feels himself pricked, if he carries 
away the hook, goes immediately to the bottom, and 
will there root like a hog upon the gravel, till he either 
rub out, or break the hook in the middle. And so much 
for this sort of angling in the middle for a Trout. 

The second way of angling in the middle is with a 
Worm, Grub, Cadis, or any other ground-bait for a 
Grayling ; and that is with a cork, and a foot from the 
bottom, a Grayling taking it much better there than 
at the bottom, as has been said before ; and this al- 
ways in a clear water, and with the finest tackle. 

To which we may also, and with very good reason, 
add the third way of angling by hand with a ground- 
bait, as a third way of fishing in the middle, which is 
common to both Trout and Grayling ; and, as I said 
before, the best way of angling with a worm of all 
other I ever tried whatever. 

And now, Sir, I have said all I can at present think 
of concerning Angling for a Trout and Grayling, and 



3 82 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



[Pakt II. 



I doubt not have tired you sufficiently ; but I will 
give you no more trouble of this kind whilst you stay ; 
which I hope will be a good while longer. 

VlAT. That will not be above a day longer ; but if 
I live till May come twelvemonth, you are sure of me 
again, either with my Master Walton or without him ; 
and in the mean time shall acquaint him how much 
you have made of me for his sake, and I-hope he loves 
me well enough to thank you for it. 

PlSC. I shall be glad, Sir, of your good company at 
the time you speak of, and shall be loath to part with you 
now ; but when you tell me you must go, I will then wait 
upon you more miles on your way than I have tempted 
you out of it, and heartily wish you a good journey. 





LINN^AN ARRANGEMENT 
OF THE FISH 

FIGURED IN THIS EDITION OF WALTON AND 
COTTON'S COMPLETE ANGLER.* 

Extracted from General Zoology, by George Shaw, M.D., 
&c, &c. ; and British Zoology, by Thomas Pen- 
nant, Esq., Edit. Lond., 1S12, 8vo. 

' I "HE reader of Walton's most interesting and 
amusing work will probably be gratified by its 
closer connection with the science of Natural His- 
tory ; and for this purpose, the following list is added, 
containing the Systematic Names and Characters of 
the principal Fish described in it. 

Fishes form one great division of the Systema Na- 
turae of Linnaeus ; and the most generally received 
modification thereof, by Dr. Shaw, arranges them un- 
der two great Classes, — to the former of which alone 
the present work has reference, — viz. those which 
have a Skeleton of Bone, and those which have a 
Skeleton of Cartilage. The Orders are founded upon 
circumstances connected with the Fins, which are 
named from their situation, Dorsal, or Back Fins; 

* The late Dr. Richard Powell, Secretary of the Royal College of 
Physicians, volunteered the Linnaean Arrangement annexed, from his 
admiration of the original paintings, and the great pains taken to have 
them faithfully engraved. 



384 LINN^EAN ARRANGEMENT 

Pectoral, or Breast Finsj Ventral, or Belly Fins; 
Anal, or Vent Fin j and Caudal, or Tail Fin. 

The Ventral Fins are held to be analogous to the 
Feet of Quadrupeds ; and from their absence, or rel- 
ative situation to the others, the Orders are taken. 
Such as want the Ventral Fins are named Apodal, 
or Footless j such as have the Ventral placed before, 
or more forward than the Pectoral, are named Jugu- 
lar j such as have them immediately under the Pec- 
toral are named Thoracic; and such as have them 
behind ox beyond the Pectoral are named Abdominal. 

As the ensuing descriptions of the Fish are placed 
according to their scientific order, and not according 
to that of their occurrence in the preceding work, a 
reference to the chapter and the page in which they 
are treated of and represented is placed against each 
of the following Articles. 

ORDER I. 
Apodal, or Footless. 
No Ventral Fins. 
Genus Anguilla, Eel. 

Head smooth. Nostrils tubular. Eyes covered by the 
common skin. Gill-membrane 10 rayed. Body round- 
ish, smooth, mucous. Dorsal, Caudal, and Anal fins 
united. Spuacles behind the head or Pectoral fins. 
A. vulgaris. Common Eel. Chap. XIII. page 220. 
Olive-brown Eel, subargenteous beneath, with the 
lower jaw longer than the upper. 

ORDER II. 
Jugular. 
Ventral Fins before the Pectoral. 
No example. 



OF THE FISH. 385 

ORDER III. 
Thoracic. 
Ventral Fins tinder the Pectoral. 
Genus Cottus, Bull-Head. 

Head broader than the body, spiny. Eyes vertical, and 
furnished with a nictitating membrane. Gill-mem- 
brane 6 rayed. Body (in most species), without scales, 
attenuated towards the tail. Dorsal fins (in most spe- 
cies), two. 

C. Gobio, River Bull- Head. Chap, xvi it. pp. 260, 262. 
Smooth yellowish-olive Bull-Head, variegated with 
black ; beneath whitish. The Head furnished with a 
spine on each side. 

Genus Perca, Perch. 

Teeth sharp, incurvate. Gill-covers triphyllous (three- 
leaved), scaly, serrated. Dorsal fin spiny on the fore 
part. Scales (in most species) hard and rough. 
P. Fluviatilis, Common Perch. Chap. XII. page 214. 
Olivaceous Perch, with transverse semi-decurrent 
blackish bands. Dorsal fin subviolaceous, the rest 
red. 
P. Cernua, Ruffe-Perch. Chap. xv. page 236. 

Sub-olivaceous Perch speckled with black, with 15 
spines in the Dorsal fin. 

N. B. The large Eyes (Oculi magni), which are 
noticed in Linnreus's description, are well expressed 
in the Plate. 
Genus Gasterosteus, Stickleback. 

Body somewhat lengthened. Dorsal spines distinct. 
Ventral fins spiny. Abdomen carinated on the sides, 
and bony beneath. 

G. Acideatus, Common Stickleback. Chap. XVin. pp. 
260, 263. 
Olivaceous Stickleback, silvery-red beneath, with 3 
Dorsal spines. 

17 Y 



3S6 LINNJEAN ARRANGEMENT 

ORDER IV. 

Abdominal. 
Ventral Fins behind, or beyond the Pectoral. 
Genus Cobitis, Loche. 

Mouth (in most species) bearded. Eyes situated in the 
upper part of the head. Body nearly of equal thickness. 
from head to tail. Scales small, easily deciduous. Air- 
bladder hard, or osseous. 
C. Barbatula, Common Loche. Chap. XVIII. pp. 260, 

262. 
Yellow-gray Loche, with dusky variegations, small com- 
pressed head and 6 beards. 
Genus Salmo, Salmon. 

Head compressed, smooth. Tongue cartilaginous. 
Teeth, bodi in the jaws, and on the tongue. Gill- 
membrane from 4 to 10 rayed. Body compressed, 
furnished at the hind part with an Adipose fin. 
S. Salar, Common Salmon. Chap vn. page 173. 
. Silvery-gray spotted Salmon, with the jaws (in the 

male) incurvated. 
S. Fario, Common Trout. Chap. v. page 122. 

Yellowish-gray Salmon with red spots, and lower jaw 
rather longer than the upper. 
S. Salmidus, Samlet. Chap. iv. page 10S. 

Bluish-gray Salmon, with distant reddish spots and 
forked tail. 

Note. Pennant seems to have established this as a 
distinct species, and not the fry of die Salmon, 
which some have supposed. One conclusive rea- 
son amongst others is, that they are furnished with 
roes, and are therefore to be considered as full- 
grown fishes. A similar inference may be made 
widi respect to the White-Bait of the Thames. 
6". Thymallus, Grayling Salmon. Chap. vr. page 167. 
Gray Salmon, with longitudinal dusky blue lines, and 
violet-colored Dorsal fin barred with brown. 






OF THE FISH. 387 

Genus Esox, Pike. 

Head somewhat flattened above. Month wide. Teeth 
sharp, in the jaws, palate, and tongue. Body length- 
ened. Dorsal and Anal fins (in most species) placed 
near the tail, and opposite each other. 
E. Lucius, Common Pike. Chap. vnr. page 184. 
Grayish-olive Pike, with yellowish spots, and de- 
pressed subequal jaws. 

Genus Cyprinus, Carp. 

Mouth small and toothless. Teeth in the throat. Gill- 
membrane 3 rayed. Ventral fins, in general, 9 rayed. 

Note. It is remarkable, that of the twenty-one prin- 
cipal Fish which minister to the pleasure of the 
Angler, ten belong to this single Genus. 

C. Carpio, Common Carp. Chap. IX. page 197. 
Yellowish-olive Carp, with wide Dorsal fin, with the 
third ray serrated behind. 

C. Brama, Bream. Chap. x. page 203. 
Broad olivaceous Carp, with flesh-colored Abdomen ; 
smallish Dorsal fin, and 27 rays in the Anal fin. 

C. Rutilus, Roach. Chap. xvn. page 249. 
Yellowish-silvery Carp, with olivaceous back. Dorsal 
fin brown, the rest reddish, and forked tail. 

C. Tinea, Tench. Chap. XI. page 212. 

Mucous blackish-olive Carp, with very small scales, 
and nearly even tail. 

C. Bar bus, Barbel. Chap. XIV. page 231. 
Bluish-white Carp, with 4 beards, olive-colored back, 
and the first ray of the Dorsal fin serrated on both 
sides. 

C. yeses, Chub. Chap. 11. page 97. 

Silvery-bluish Carp, with olivaceous back, thick head, 
and rounded snout. 

C. Leuciscus, Dace. Chap. xvn. page 250. 

Yellowish-silvery Carp, with olivaceous back, Dorsal 
fin brown, the rest reddish, and forked tail. 



388 LINN.EAN ARRANGEMENT OF THE FISH. 

C. Alburnus, Bleak. Chap. XV. page 237. 
Silvery Carp, with olivaceous back, 20 rays in the 
Anal fin, and forked tail. 

C. Gobio, Gudgeon. Chap. XV. page 235. 
Silvery-Olive Carp, with the upper lip bearded, and 
the Dorsal fin and tail spotted with black. 

C. Phoxinus, Minnow. Chap, xvm. pages 260, 261. 
Blackish-green Carp, with blue and yellow variega- 
tions ; reddish-silvery Abdomen, and forked tail. 








ORIGINAL AND SELECTED NOTES, 
ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 

T)REVIOUS to entering upon the following series 
-*- of illustrative Notes, it may be advantageous to 
state what were the books to which the Authors of the 
preceding work have referred in the course of it ; and, 
so far as they now can be ascertained, to specify the 
probable editions which they consulted. By doing 
this Walton's principal authorities will appear at one 
view ; and by numbering each article separately, a 
connection will be formed between them and the fol- 
lowing Notes, without the continual repetition of the 
title of any volume which may be referred to. Walton, 
by an admirable selection of his authors, was en- 
abled to quote not only the best, most learned, and 
most popular writers of his own time, but he also was 
rendered capable of citing numerous ancient classics, 
as well as the works nf many eminent foreigners, 



3QO NOTES. 

whose productions were generally written in Latin. 
The Complete Angler was, perhaps, fully as much as 
any other work in the English tongue, a progressive 
composition ; since each succeeding edition, down to 
the Fifth, — which was the last published in the Au- 
thor's life, — contained some variation, addition, or 
improvement on that which preceded it. Though 
Walton certainly anticipated future impressions of his 
most entertaining work, yet in the Preface to his First 
Edition, which was afterwards considerably altered, 
he writes of such a circumstance with very great mod- 
esty. When speaking of the flies which are used for 
the different months, he says : " Of these (because no 
man is born an artist nor an Angler) I thought fit to 
give thee this notice. I might say more, but it is not 
fit for this place ; but if this Discourse which follows 
shall come to a second impression, which is possible, 
for slight books have been in this age observed to 
have that fortune, I shall then, for thy sake, be glad 
to correct what is faulty, or, by a conference with any, 
to explain or enlarge what is defective ; but for this 
time I have neither a willingness nor leisure to say 
more, than wish thee a rainy evening to read this 
book in, and that the east wind may never blow when 
thou goest a-fishing. Farewell. Iz. Wa." He faith- 
fully fulfilled this promise, for the Second Edition has 
eight entirely new chapters, and above an hundred 
pages more than the First : and the Fifth contains 
twenty pages more than the Fourth.* 

* As these various Editions are referred to in the succeeding Notes by 
the number of the impression only, a list of them in the order of publica- 



NOTES. 391 

It is from these variations, the most important of 
which will be found carefully preserved in the follow- 
ing Notes, that a conception may be formed of the 
editions used by Walton of the authors whom he 
cites ; and it is from a careful collation of these earlier 
impressions, that some illustrations of the text have 
been recovered, from marginal notes which were after- 
wards omitted. Nor from the author only have such 
illustrations been compiled, but the Editions of the 
Complete Angler by the Reverend Moses Browne, Sir 
John Hawkins, Sir Henry Ellis, and the elaborate and 
beautiful impression edited by Sir N. Harris Nicolas, 
published eight years since by Mr. Pickering, have 
been also consulted ; and the collection formed into a 
brief but comprehensive abstract of all. Brief indeed, 
the plan of the present volume required it to be, al- 
though it would in most instances have been truly in- 
teresting to have given the very words of the ancient 
and erudite authorities themselves ; but these extracts 
extend occasionally to many pages, and are to be 
found in the impressions referred to. The reader has 
however the less to regret, since he will find, on a ref- 
erence to the originals, that Walton has so happily 
abbreviated them, as in the words of Addison, to have 
"practised in the chemical method, and given the vir- 
tue of a bulky draught in a few drops." Such as are 
familiar with the literature of the time will find the en- 

tion is here given. First, 1653 ; Second, 1655 ; Third, 1664 ; Fourth, 1668 ; 
Fifth, 1676. Of all these impressions, copies are in the possession of 
W. J. Broderip, Esq., with the most liberal use of which, beside other 
assistance, the Editor has been favored for the improvement of this 
work. 



392 NOTES. 

suing' Notes almost all which can be required, since 
they will serve as an index to many of the passages 
referred to in the numerous authors quoted ; while for 
the general reader, it is presumed there will be suffi- 
cient to amuse and guide him, without the introduc- 
tion of quaint extracts, which he would neither value 
or enjoy. 

The works referred to in The Complete Angler are 
presumed to be the following. 

i. /Elianus, Claudius : De NaturS Animalium, libri XVII. 
Gr. Lat. Pet. Gillio et Conr. Gesnero Interp. Luge/. 
1565. i6to. 

2. Aldrovandus, Ulysses : De Piscibvs, libri v. et de Cetis 

liber vnvs. Bon. 163S. fol. 

3. Bacon, Francis, Baron Verulam : Sylva Sylvarura : or a 

Naturall History in Ten Centuries. Published after 

the Author's death, by W. Rawley, D. D. Loud. 
1635. fol. 

4. A History, Natural and Experimental, of Life 

and Death : or of the Prolongation of Life. Trans- 
lated from the Latin by W. Rawley, D. D. Loud. 
163S. 1 2 mo. 

5. Baker, Sir Richard ; A Chronicle of the Kings of Eng- 

land. Lond. 1653. fol. 

o. Barker, Thomas : The Art of Angling. Lond. 166 1. 
1 2 mo. 

7. Bartas, Guillaume De Salluste, Sieur Du : Du Bartas his 
Diuine \Yeekes and Workes. Translated by Joshua 
Sylvester, Gent. Lond. 1641. fol. 

S. Camden, William : Britain : or a Chorographical De- 
scription of the most flourishing Kingdoms of Eng- 
land, Scotland, and Ireland, and the Islands adjoin- 
ing. Translated from the Latin by Philemon Holland, 
M.D. Loud. 1637. fol. 

9. Cardanus, Jerome: De Subtilitate, libri xxr. Par. 155 x - 
Svo. 



NOTES. 393 

10. Casaubon, Dr. Meric : Of Credulity and Incredulity, in 

Things Natural, Civil, and Divine. Lond. 1668. 8vo. 

11. Caussin, Nicholas : The Holy Court. 1663. fol. 

12. Diodorus Siculus : The History of the World ; Done 

into English by Mr. (Henry) Cogan. Lond. 1653. 
fol. 

13. Donne, Dr. John : Poems by J. D. with Elegies on the 

Author's Death. Lond. 1663. 4to. 

14. Drayton, Michael: Poly-Olbion. Lond. (1612.) fol. 

15. Dubravius, Janus : De Piscinis et Piscium qui in eis 

aluntur naturis ; libri V. 1559. 8vo. 

16. Fletcher, Phineas : The Purple Island, or the Isle of 

Man : together with Piscatorie Eclogs and other 
Poeticall Miscellanies. By P. F. Cambr. 1633. 4to. 

17. Gerard, John: The Herball or Generall Historie of 

Plantes. Lond. 1633. fol. 

18. Gesner, Conrad : De Piscibvs et Aqvatilibvs omnibvs, 

libelli iii. Lat. Germ. Tigur. No date. i2mo. 

19. Historise Naturalis Animalium, libri v. 

Quadrupedum, Avium, Piscium, et Serpentum. Ti- 
gur. 1551-1558. 5 vols. fol. 

20. Grotius, Hugo : His Sophompaneas, or Joseph. A 

Tragedy. With Annotations by Francis Goldsmith, 
Esq. Lond. No date, but printed about 1634. 8vo. 

21. Hakewill, Rev. George, D.D. An Apology or Decla- 

ration of the Power and Providence of God in the 
Government of the World. Lond. 1630. fol. 

22. Herbert, Rev. George : The Temple. Sacred Poems 

and Private Ejaculations. Cambr. 1633. i2mo. 

23. Heylin, Rev. Peter, D.D. : Microcosmos. A Little De- 

scription of the Great World. Ox/. 1633. 410. 

24. Josephus, Flavins : Josephas's History : or the Antiqui- 

ties of the Jews. Translated into English by Thomas 
Lodge, M.D. Lond. 1602. fol. 

25. Jovius, Paulus : De Romanis Piscibus, libellus. Basil. 

1 53 1. 8vo. 

26. Lessius, Leonardus : Hygiasticon : or the right course 

of preserving Life and Health unto extream Old Age. 
17* 



394 NOTES. 

Done into English by T(imothy) S(mith). Cainbr. 
1634. 121110. 

27. Liebault, Dr. J. : Maison Rustique : or the Covntrey 

Farme. Compyled in the French Tongue by Charles 
Stevens, and John Liebavlt, Doctors of Physicke. 
And Translated into English by Richard Svrflet, 
Practitioner in Physicke. Loud. 1616. fol. 

28. Matthiolus, Pet. Andr. : Epistoke Medicinales. Prag. 

1 56 1. fol. 

29. Montaigne, Michael De : The Essayes, or Morall, Poli- 

ticke, and Militarie Discovrses of Lord Michael de 
Montaigne. Translated by John Florio. Loud. 1632. 
fol. 

30. Moulin, Rev. Pierre Du : The Accomplishment of the 

Prophecies, or the third book in defence of the 
Catholicke Faith. Translated by J. Heath. Ox/. 

1613. 121110. 

31. Obel, Matthew De L': Plantarum seu Stirpium Historia, 

cum alio volumine adversariorum ; per M. de L'Obel 
et P. Peaen. Antv. 1576. 

32. Overbury, Sir Thomas : His Wife, with Additions of 

New Characters and many other witty conceits never 
before printed. Loud. 1638. l6to. 

33. Pinto, Ferdinand Mendez : The Voyages and Adven- 

tures of Ferdinand Mendez Pinto. Done into Eng- 
lish by H(enry) C(ogan) Gent. Loud. 1633. fol. 

34. Pliny, Junior : The Historie of the World. Commonly 

called the Naturall Historie of C. Plinivs Secvndvs. 
Translated into English by Philemon Holland, M. D. 
Loud. 1 60 1. fol. 

35. Plutarch : The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Ro- 

manes, compared together by that gratie and learned 
Philosopher and Historiographer, Plutarke of Chse- 
roneoj : Translated out of Greeke into French by 
James Amyot, Abbot of Bellozane, &c, and out of 
French into Englislle by Thomas North. (Esq. Con- 
troller of the Household to Queen Elizabeth.) Loud. 
1579. fol. 



notes. 395 

36. Rondeletius, Gulielmus : Libri de Piscibus Marinis ; in 

quibus verse Piscium effigies expressse sunt. Ludg. 
1554. fol. 

37. Royal Society : The Philosophical Transactions, vol. vi. 

Load. 1 67 1. 4to. 

38. Salvianus, Hippolytus : Aqvatilivm Animalivm Historia-. 

Rom. 1554. fol. 

39. Sandys, George : A Relation of a Journey begun An : 

Dom : 16 10. Loud. 1615. fol. 

40. Sidney, Sir Philip : The Countess of Pembroke's Ar- 

cadia. Loud. 1655. fol. 

41. Topsell, Rev. Edw. : The Historie of Fovre-Footed 

Beastes. Loud. 1607. fol. 

42. The Historie of Serpents : or the Seconde Booke 

of Liuing Creatures. Loud. 1608. fol. 

43. Wotton, Sir Henry : Reliquiae Wottonianse. Loud. 

1 65 1. l2mo. 

44. Xenophon : The Life of Cyrus, translated by Philemon 

Holland, M.D. Loud. 1632. fol. 



Page 27. I, Lzaak Walton. 

With respect to the peculiar orthography employed by 
Walton as to his Christian name, it is to be remembered, 
that in his time it was frequently spelled in the Scriptures 
Izak, Izaacke, and Izaack ; and also that such a manner 
was agreeable to the original Hebrew of the word Itzhak, or 
Laughter, vide Gen. xxi. 6. In this circumstance Walton 
was, most probably, guided by some of the many learned di- 
vines with whom he was acquainted. 

Page 32. Witness Abraham Mark/and. 

The appearance of the above name as a witness to Wal- 
ton's Will, is an additional proof of the great respect in 
which he was held by the most eminent clergy of his time. 
Dr. Abraham Markland was a Prebendary of Winchester 
Cathedral, where he was installed the 4th of July, 1692 ; and 
in August, 1694, he was named Master of the Hospital of 
St. Cross, near the above city. He published several Po- 
ems, in 1667, 4to, composed in that retirement, and "A 



396 NOTES. 

Sermon, preached before the Aldermen in Guildhall Chap- 
el," Lo7id. 1683. 4to. Ath. Oxon. Edit, by Bliss, vol. iv. 
p. 710. The above circumstances were obligingly pointed 
out by his descendant J. H. Markland, Esq., F. R. S., etc. 
Walton's Will, which is given in the text, is recorded in the 
Prerogative Court of Canterbury, in the volume called 
1 Hare, 375, Art. 24. It was proved by the Executors at 
London, on February the 4th, 1683-4, before Sir Thomas 
Exton and Sir Leoline Jenkins. 

Page 45. A Conference betwixt an Angler, etc. 

The First Edition of the Complete Angler has not any 
descriptive titles prefixed to the chapters ; but the leaf imme- 
diately preceding the commencement of the work itself con- 
tains a short Table of Contents to the thirteen chapters of 
which that edition is composed, and which is introduced in 
the following manner : "Because in this Discourse of Fish 
and Fishing I have not observed a method, which (though 
the Discourse be not long) may be some inconvenience to 
the Reader, I have therefore for his easier finding out some 
particular things which are spoken of, made this following 
Table. The first chapter is spent in a vindication or com- 
mendation of the Art of Angling." After having gone 
through the whole number of chapters, the Table concludes 
with, " These directions the Reader may take as an ease in 
his search after some particular Fish, and the baits proper 
for them ; and he will shew himselfe courteous in mending 
or passing by some few errors in the Printer, which are not 
so many but that they may be pardoned." In the Second 
Edition, there were twenty-one chapters, entitled as they are 
in the foregoing pages ; and the Third Edition was the first 
which had an index. 

Page 46. The Thatched House in Hoddesden. 

In the First Edition, there are but two characters intro- 
duced in Chapter I. : Viator, or the Wayfarer, whose name 
in the Second impression was changed to Venator, or the 
Hunter, and Piscator, the Fisherman. Instead, therefore, of 
the dialogue as it now stands, the opening passages were 
originally as follow: " Piscalor. You are wel overtaken 



NOTES. 397 

Sir ; a good morning to you ; I have stretch'd my legs up 
Totnam Hil to overtake you, hoping your businesse may oc- 
casion you towards Ware, this fine, pleasant, fresh, May- 
day in the morning. Viator. Sir, I shall almost answer 
your hopes ; for my purpose is to be at Hodsden (three 
miles short of that town) I will not say, before I drink, but 
before I break my fast : for I have appointed a friend or two 
to meet me there at the Thatcht-house, about nine of the 
clock this morning ; and that made me so early up, and, in- 
deed, to walk so fast. Pise. Sir, I know the Thatcht-house 
very well : I often make it my resting place, and taste a cup 
of ale there, for which liquor that place is very remarkable ; 
and to that house I shall by your favour accompany you, and 
either abate of my pace, or mend it, to enjoy such a com- 
panion as you seem to be, knowing that (as the Italians 
say,") etc. Pages I, 2. The Thatcht-house is stated by 
the Rev. Moses Browne, in a note in his Third Edition of 
the Complete Angler, Lond. 1772, i2mo, p. 1, to be "sev- 
enteen miles from London on the Ware road." It is now 
quite unknown ; but it has been supposed that a thatched 
cottage, once distinguished by the sign of the Buffalo's Head, 
standing at the farther end of Hoddesdon, on the left of the 
road in going towards Ware, about seventeen miles and half 
distant from London, was the actual building. 

Page 46. Mews a Hawk. 

Mew, derived from the old French Mite, signifies a change, 
or the period when birds and other animals moult, or cast 
their feathers, hairs, or horns : hence Latham observes that 
the il Mew is that place, whether it be abroad or in the 
house, where you set down your hawk during the time she 
raiseth (or reproduces) her feathers." In the above passage, 
the term refers to the care with which a hawk should be 
kept in her mewing- time ; and in "The Gentleman's Acad- 
emie, or the Book of St. Alban's," Lond. 1595. 4to. 
Edit, by Gerv. Markham, there are several sections on the 
mewing of hawks ; from one of which, p. 9, it may be 
learned, that the best time to commence, is in the beginning 
of Lent, and, if well kept, the bird will be mewed by the 
beginning of August. 



398 NOTES. 

Page 47. Hunting the Otter. 

In pursuing this sport, which is now almost obsolete, the 
huntsmen assembled on each side of the river where an otter 
was supposed to harbor, beating up the hollow banks, reed- 
beds, and sedges, with hounds kept solely for that purpose ; 
and, if the game were at hand, its "seal," or the impression 
produced by the round ball under the soles of the feet, were 
soon discovered in the mud. Every hunter was armed with 
a spear, to assist the dogs, and attack the animal when it came 
to the surface of the water to breathe or 'vent ; but if the 
otter were not found by the river-side, it was traced by the 
seal, the fragments of the prey, and the " spraints," or soil, 
up the stream inland to the place where it had gone to couch. 
The otter when wounded, as it is noticed on page 92. bites 
violently, and makes towards land ; although the male-otter 
never utters a cry, but the pregnant females give a very shrill 
scream. When the otter fastens upon die dogs in the water, 
it dives with them, carries them far below the surface, and 
will seldom give up or quit its hold but with life. The hunt- 
ing of an otter will last three and four hours, and the most 
fatal time for the pursuit is in snow and hard frost : an un- 
baked gin set near the landing-place of otters is also used to 
destroy them. Daniel. Otter-dogs, which are mentioned a 
short distance below the line above quoted, are a breed be- 
tween the harrier and the terrier, and are hounds of great 
strength and activity. The following extract from The 
Whitehall Evening Post of May, 1 760, was communicated 
for the first impression of this Edition of The Complete 
Angler, twenty-one years since, by the late Joseph Hasle- 
wood, as showing the time when otter-hunting in England 
began to decline. 

"To be Disposed of, At Barton under Needwood, 
near Litchfield, Staffordshire, Otter-Hounds, exceeding 
staunch, and thoroughly well trained to the hunting of this 
Animal. The Pack consists of nine Couple and a Terrier, 
and are esteemed to be as good, if not the best, Hounds in 
the Kingdom. In the Winter Season they hunt the Hare, 
except about two Couple and a half that are trained to the 



NOTES. 



399 



Otter only ; but there are about two Couple of Harriers, 
that have never been entered at the Otter, which will go with 
the rest ; beside three Couple of Year-old Hounds, now fit 
to enter at either or both ; and one Couple of Whelps, ready 
to go to Walks. The greatest part of them are the Blood 
of as high bred a Fox-Hound as any in England. The Pro- 
prietor disposes of them for the two following reasons only : 
First, because all the Otters except about three or four are 
killed within this Hunt, which consists of all the Rivers in 
this Country, (except the Dove, where Otters are not to be 
killed with Hounds,) Leicestershire, and Warwickshire; but 
more especially, because the Proprietor finds himself too in- 
firm to follow them. None but Principals will be treated 
with. Direct to Walter Biddulph, of Barton aforesaid, 
Esq. : by whom all Letters from Principals will be duly 
answered. 

"N.B. Mr. Biddulph has killed within these last six 
Years with these Hounds, above Burton upon Trent only, 
seventy-four Otters. There are six Spears to be disposed of 
with the Hounds." 

Page 47. Noble Mr. Sadler. 

Ralph Sadler, or Sadleir, of Standon, in the County of 
Hertford, Esq. ; only son and heir of Sir Thomas Sadler, 
and grandson of Sir Ralph Sadler, Knight-Banneret, cele- 
brated in the times of Henry VIII. , Edward VI., Mary, and 
Elizabeth. He married, in 1601, Anne Paston, eldest daugh- 
ter of the very eminent Sir Edward Coke, Lord Chief-Jus- 
tice ; in 1606, he succeeded to the family-seat of Standon, 
and he died without issue, on February the 12th, 1660 
(1661) ; Scotfs Sadler's Papers. He appears to have had a 
great attachment to angling, and Sir Henry Chauncy, in his 
Historical Antiquities of Hertfordshire, p. 219, says of him, 
that "he brought an action of trespass Quare vi et armis 
against John Hyat in the Court of King's Bench, for fishing 
in the river Standon leading through his own land, and for 
erecting a weir there ; and he obtained judgment thereupon. 
He delighted much in hawking and hunting, and the pleas- 
ures of a country life ; was famous for his noble table, his 



400 NOTES. 

great hospitality to his neighbors, and his abundant charity 
to the poor." The original edition of Walton's work in this 
part reads as follows. "Viator. Indeed, Sir, a little busi- 
ness and more pleasure : for my purpose is to bestow a day 
or two in hunting the otter, which my friend, that I go to 
meet, tells me is more pleasant than any hunting whatsoever : 
and, having despatched a little business this day, my pur- 
pose is to-morrow to follow the dogs of honest Mr. , who 

hath appointed me and my friend to meet him upon Amwell- 
hill to-morrow morning by daybreak." 

Page 48. According to Lucian. 

The First Edition of the Complete Angler has these verses 
placed immediately after the extract from Montaigne, which 
was introduced by the same remarks which now precede it, 
upon Viator's answer to that speech of Piscator, in which he 
declares himself an enemy to the Otter, both on the account 
of his brother-anglers and his own. At page 5, in the origi- 
nal impression, Viator, who is the subsequent Venator, 
though without his discourse in praise of Hunting, says : 
' ' Sir, to be plain with you, I am sorry you are an Angler : 
for I have heard many grave, serious men pitie, and many 
pleasant men scoff e, at Anglers." Piscator's reply is then 
nearly the same as it now appears, with the transposition 
already mentioned; but at the end of the sentence "and I 
hope I may take," etc., see page 50, he continues : "But, if 
this satisfie not, I pray bid the scoffer put this Epigram in 
his pocket, and read it every morning for his breakfast (for I 
wish him no better) ; Hee shall find it fixed before the Dia- 
logues of Lucian, who may justly be accounted the father of 
the family of all scoffers : And, though I owe none of that 
fraternitie so much as good-will, yet I have taken a little 
pleasant pains to make such a conversion of it as may make 
it the fitter for all of that fraternity." The translation of 
Lucian alluded to by Walton is entitled " Certain select 
Dialogues of Lucian : together with his true history," trans- 
lated from the Greek into English by Mr Francis Hickes. 
Oxford, 1634, 4to. The book was published by Thomas 
Hickes, M. A. , the son of the translator ; and at the end of 



NOTES. 401 

an address "To the honest and judicious reader," is the Epi- 
gram already referred to, printed in Greek and English, and 
signed T. H. The original lines, taken from the copy of 
this volume in the Library of Sion College, London, are as 
follow : 

" Lucian, well skill'd in old toyes, this hath writ : 
For all 's but folly that men thinke is wit ; 
No settled judgement doth in men appear : — 
But thou admirest that which others jeer." 

Page 49. The learned and ingenuous Montaigne says. 

The original edition, in this place, reads, "And as for any 
Scoffer, 'qui mockat, mockabitur.'' Let mee tell you, (that 
you may tell him) what the wittie French-man sayes in such 
a case." The extract then follows, and a marginal note re- 
fers to the authority. The edition of Montaigne's Essays 
used by Walton was in all probability that marked No. 29 
in the foregoing list : the passage alluded to will be found in 
Chap. XII., "An Apologie of Raymond de Sebonde," and on 
page 250 of the volume ; but the paraphrase which has been 
given at the place above quoted is far more beautiful and 
copious than the original. Michel de Montaigne, whose 
amusing and instructive Essays Walton seems carefully to 
have read, was born at the Chateau de Montagne, in Peri- 
gord, on February the 28th, 1533. As soon as he could 
speak he was sent into Germany to learn Latin, which he un- 
derstood perfectly when he was only six years old ; the Greek 
he also acquired with considerable ease ; and by the time he 
was thirteen, his education was finished. As he was intended 
for the profession of the law, he married Francoise de la 
Chassaigne, the daughter of a Councillor of the Parliament 
of Bourdeaux ; but although he was extensively employed 
and caressed in Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, the re- 
tirement of study was most congenial to his feelings. Charles 
IX. of France invested him with the Order of St. Michael, 
and he died on his own estate on the 15th of September, 
1592. His principal work is his Moral, Political, and Mili- 
tary Essays, which are replete with information on all 
subjects, and especially on natural history ; but he also 



402 NOTES. 

published a volume of travels, and a French translation of 
the Natural Theology of Raymond de Sebonde. John Flo- 
rio, the Resolute, as he styled himself, who made that trans- 
lation of Montaigne's Essays, consulted by Walton, was the 
son of Italian parents who were Waldenses, and who fled to 
London to avoid the Papal persecutions. In that city he 
was born in the reign of Henry VIII. Florio taught Italian 
and French in the University of Oxford, and also to Anne, 
the Queen of James I., and Prince Henry his son. He died 
of the plague at Fulham, in 1625, at the age of 80. 

Page 50. I hope in time to disabuse you. 

This expression is now nearly obsolete ; it is derived from 
the old French Desabuser, to undeceive. In Chap. in. page 
101, the same word occurs again, and in the Rev. H. J. 
Todd's edition of Dr. Johnson's Dictionaiy, the first of the 
foregoing passages is given, as one of the authorities for the 
use of the expression. The verb to abuse, put for deception, 
will be found in Wotton's verses on page 285. — "Abused 
mortals, did you know." In the original edition of this work, 
in which there are two speakers only in the first chapter, the 
dialogue immediately passes to Piscator's illustrations of the 
antiquity of angling. 

Page 54. Varro his Aviary. 

In Book IV. section 7, and page 3S8, of Dr. Hakewill's 
Apology, No. 2 1 in the preceding list, are several particulars 
of Varro's passion for birds, and his extensive aviaries, 
quoted from himself, Lucius Accius, and Columella, with 
particular references to each. Alarcics Terentius Varro was 
a very learned Roman, who was Lieutenant to Pompey- in 
his piratical wars, and who obtained a naval crown. Cicero 
greatly commends his erudition, and to him he dedicated his 
five books " De Lingua Latina," in his eightieth year. Beside 
these he wrote nearly five hundred volumes, which are now 
all lost, excepting a Treatise De Re Rustica, in Book III. of 
which some notices of his aviary may be found. 

Page 54. This for the Birds of Pleasure. 

To these may with propriety be added the practice of the 
Persian Kings mentioned by Robert Burton in his " Anat- 



NOTES. 403 

omy of Melancholy," Loud. 1676, fol. part 2, sect. 2, memb. 
4, page 169, col. I, which he quotes from Sir Anthony 
Shirley's Travels. "The Persian Kings," says he, "hawk 
after butterflies with sparrows made to that use, and Starrs 
(starlings) : lesser hawks for lesser games they have and big- 
ger for the rest, that they may produce their sport to all sea- 
sons. The Muscovian Emperours reclaim eagles to let fly 
at hindes, foxes, etc., and such a one was sent for a present 
to Queen Elizabeth : some reclaim ravens, castrils (young 
kites or bastard-hawks), pies, etc., and man them for pleas- 
ure." In the very entertaining Life of Edward, Lord Her- 
bert of Cherbury, Lond. 1778, 4to, p. 134, it is related that 
M. De Luynes, subsequently Prime Minister of France in the 
early years of Louis XIII., "gained much upon the King 
by making hawks fly at all little birds in his gardens, and by 
making some of those little birds again catch butterflies." 
Hawkins. 

Page 54. Mr. G.. Sandys in his Travels. 

George Sandys, or Sandies, was the seventh or youngest 
son of Dr. Edwin Sandys, Archbishop of York from 1576 to 
1588, and was born in the Archiepiscopal palace at Bishops- 
thorpe in 1577. In 1588 he was entered of St. Mary's Hall, 
Oxford ; and in August, 1610, he departed on his travels 
through Europe and Asia, which occupied two years, and of 
which he published an account in folio, with many plates, in 
1615, and repeatedly reprinted. Sandys was not only pious, 
learned, and accomplished, but he was also one of the best 
versifiers of his time ; and in poetry he published " Ovid's 
Metamorphoses Englished," 1626, folio ; A Paraphrase upon 
the Psalms of David, etc., 1636, octavo ; Christ's Passion, 
a Tragedy, translated from H. Grotius, 1640, i2mo ; and 
a Paraphrase upon the Song of Solomon, 1641, 4to. He died 
in 1643. The passage in his Travels alluded to in the text 
will be found in No. 39 of the foregoing list, p. 209. 

Page 54- The Dove zvas sent out of the ark by Noah. 

Genesis, chap. viii. 8-12. The Offering of Turtle-doves 
or Pigeons, referred to immediately after, will be found in 
Leviticus xii. 6, 8, and Luke ii. 24. The Descent of the 



404 NOTES. 

Holy Ghost, also mentioned in the same paragraph, is related 
in St. Matthew Hi. 16 ; St. Mark i. 10 ; St. Luke iii. 22 ; and 
St. John i. 32. With the exception of the third reference, 
however, the words imply that the Holy Spirit descended in 
the manner of a Dove, overshadowing and covering that 
which is beneath; but Dr. Whitby, in his " Paraphrase and 
Commentary on the New Testament," Loud. 1727, fol. vol. 
i. p. 370, says that even that passage has the same meaning, 
since it is not a bodily form as of a Doi>e, but as a Dine, 
which is similar to the phrase used in Acts ii. 3, as of Fire. 
"This bodily shape," he continues, "seems rather to have 
been that of light, or of a bright cloud, in which God usu- 
ally appeared under the Old Testament, and from which he 
spake, and which is usually called ' the Glory of the Lord. ' " 
Dr. Doddridge, in his " Family Expositor," Loud. 1760, 4to, 
vol. i. p. 115, Note g, says, that the phrase might have been 
used without any actual appearance, "but only a lambent 
flame falling from Heaven with a dove-like motion, which 
Dr. Scot, in his Christian Life, vol. iii. p. 66, supposes to 
have been all. Dr. Owen and Grotius think it was a bright 
flame in the shape of a Dove, and Justin Martyr adds, that 
all Jordan shone with the reflection of the light. " See also 
Dr. Henry Hammond's ' ' Paraphrase and Annotations on 
the New Testament," and Bishop Jeremy Taylor's " Ductor 
Dubitantium. " Hawkins. 

Page 55. The laborious Bee, of whose prudence, etc. 

The following work was doubtless in Walton's memory 
when this passage was written. ' ' The Feminine Monarchic : 
or the Historie of Bees. Shewing their admirable nature 
and properties, their generation and colonies, their gouern- 
ment, loyaltie, art, industrie, enemies, warres, magnanimitie, 
etc. Together with the right ordering of them from time 
to time : and the sweet profit arising therefrom. Written 
out of experiment by Charles Butler. Loud. 1623. 4to." 
Hawkins. 

Page 55. And now to return to my Hazvks. 

This part of the text may be illustrated by referring to the 
ensuing volumes, which are considered as being the best that 



NOTES. 



405 



are extant on the subject of Falconry. " The Booke of Fal- 
conrie," by George Turberville, an English poet, born about 
I 53°> 1575, 4-to, " The Gentleman's Academie," Lond. 
1595, 4to, and " Country Contentments," Lond. 1675,410, 
by Gervase Markham. "Falconrie," in Two Books, Lo7id. 
1658, 4to, and "Another New and Second Book of Fal- 
conry," Lond. 16 1 8, 4to, by Simon Latham. Hawkins. 
The eulogies on Hawking and Hunting are not in Walton's 
First Edition. 

Page 57- The Fichet, the Fiilimart, the Moicldwarp. 

It has been ascertained that the first two of these names 
were anciently applied indiscriminately to the Ferret and the 
Polecat ; but the Fitchet, Fitchel, or Fitchew is a name 
most commonly appropriated to the Weasel, and it is sup- 
posed is derived of the Teutonic Visse, Fisse, or Vitche, an 
extremely rank animal of the Mustela or Weasel genus. Dr. 
Skinner, in his Etymologicon Linguae Anglicanas, Lond. 1671, 
fol., under the word Fnlimart, states that "it is a word which 
is not in any place excepting in the book called The Com- 
plete Angler " ; but it may be observed that Juliana Barnes, 
in the Book of St. Albans, speaks of the Fulmarde as one 
of the rascal beasts of chase ; and Strutt, in his "Sports and 
Pastimes of the People of England," Lond. 1801, p. 14, 
places it as one of the animals of rank, or fetid flight, which 
leave a foul scent behind them. In Dr. Adam Lyttleton's 
Dictionary, it is called "a fetid mouse of Pontus"; and 
Phillips, in his " World of Words," explains it to be a spe- 
cies of Polecat, in which sense the word Fowmarte is still 
used in Scotland. Francis Junius calls it "Fullmer, that is 
the same as Polecat, a Marten. It is from the Teutonic 
Ful, Fetid, and Merder, a Marten. Also in the Belgic it 
is now called Visse, which was formerly Fiest, from its 
offensive smell." Etymologicum Anglicanum. Oxon. 1743, 
fol. The Mouldwarp is a name of the Mole, compounded 
of the Anglo-Saxon words Molde, dust, and Weorpan, to 
cast. "We call," says Verstegan, "in some parts of Eng- 
land, a mole a Mouldwarp, which is as much as to say a 
cast-earth." 



406 NOTES. 

Page 57. How could Cleopatra have feasted Mark Antony. 

See North's Translation of Plutarch's Lives, No. 35, of the 
preceding list, page 9S2. Marginal letter D. of that volume. 

Page 58. One of the qualifications that Xenophon, etc. 

The Edition of the Cyropsedia used by Walton was in 
all probability that marked No. 44 in the preceding list ; 
and the passage referred to is in the first book. In the 
translation of this author by the Hon. Maurice Ashley, 
Loud. 1728, 8vo. it will be found in vol. i. p. 84. 

Page 60. Moses, .... who was called the friend of God. 

This title in the Scriptures is usually applied to Abraham, 
see 2 Chron. xx. 7, Isaiah xli. 8, James ii. 23 ; but in Exo- 
dus xxxiii. 11, it is said that " God spake to Moses as a man 
to his friend." Walton has another passage similar to the 
line cited above, on page 80. The reference relating to the 
learning of Moses, mentioned on page 60, is to Acts vii. 
22 ; and that which alludes to his meekness is to Num- 
bers xiii. 3. 

Page 62. He that shall view the writings of Macrobius or 
Varro. 

This passage occurs first in the Second Edition of The 
Complete Angler, 1655 ; and the materials of it are taken, 
with little alteration in the language, from lib. iv. sect. 6, p. 
434, of Dr. Hakewill's Apology, etc. ; see the preceding 
list, No. 21. Aurclins Macrobius was a Latin writer of the 
fourth century, who is by some supposed to have been a 
Christian, and Chamberlain to the Emperor Theodosius II. 
His pi-incipal production is the "Saturnalia Convivia," in 
seven books, consisting of a miscellaneous collection of antiq- 
uities and criticisms, supposed to have been derived from 
the conversation of some learned Romans, during the Satur- 
nalian Festival. The circumstances mentioned in the text 
will be found in lib. ii. cap. xi. of that work. He also wrote 
a Commentary on Cicero's Somnium Scipionis, and many 
other books which are now lost ; but his latinity is often cor- 
rupt, as he was not born in a part of the Roman Empire 
where the Latin language was spoken. The passage taken 
from Varro will be found in his book. " De Re Rustica," 
lib. iii. cap. xvii. 



NOTES. 



407 



Page 62. A most learned physician, Dr. Wharton. 

Dr. Thomas Wharton was descended from an ancient 
family in Yorkshire, and was originally educated at Pem- 
broke Hall, Cambridge ; whence he removed to Trinity Col- 
lege, Oxford, before the breaking out of the civil wars. On 
the commencement of the rebellion, he came up to London, 
and practised physic under the eminent Dr. John Bathurst, 
until 1646, when he again returned to. his college, and, 
through the recommendation of Lord Fairfax, was created 
M. D. early in 1647. In 1650 he was admitted a Fellow of 
the College of Physicians in London, where he resided in 
Aldersgate Street, and remained in the city throughout the 
whole of the last Plague of 1665. He died at his house on 
the 14th of November, 1673. He published an excellent 
description of the Glands, written in Latin, which was printed 
at London in 1656, 8vo. Amsterd. 1659. Hawkins. Dr. 
Wharton's name was not inserted in the text at this place 
till the Edition of 1676 ; and the First is entirely without the 
eulogy on water. It is worthy of remark, that the whole of 
these passages relating to Hawking, Hunting, and Angling 
are copied almost verbatim, in a very popular and well- 
known work, entitled "The Gentleman's Recreation"; of 
which the first edition was printed in 1674, six years after 
the fourth edition of Walton's Angler ; and that portion 
of The Gentleman's Recreation which treats of Fishing is 
merely an abstract of Walton's researches. Another imita- 
tion of this author, although of a much slighter extent, may 
be found in the Works of Bishop Home, Edit, by W. Jones, 
Loud. 1809, 8vo, vol. iv. p. 537, in a Discourse composed 
at Brighthelmston, entitled "Considerations on the Sea." 
This similarity was pointed out to the Editor by the Rev. 
Dr. J. T. Barrett, of Westminster. 

Page 64. / see Theobald's House. 

This favorite palace of King James I. formerly stood in a 
large Manor called Thebaudes, in the County of Hertford, 
and Parish of Cheshunt, somewhat north of the Ware road, 
about twelve miles from London. It was erected about the 
year 1570, by John Thorpe, for Secretary Cecil, afterwards 



408 NOTES. 

Lord-Treasurer Burghley. On the 27th of July, 1564, Eliza- 
beth made her first visit to the house ; and, having probably 
expressed her intention of repeating it, by her second pro- 
gress to Theobald's on the 22d of September, 1571, it was 
considerably enlarged and improved. Diu-ing her reign, the 
Queen went thither twelve different times ; at some of which, 
the expenses of her entertainment amounted to from ^2,000 
t0 £3,°°°- On the death of Lord Burghley, he was suc- 
ceeded at Theobald's by his son Robert, subsequently the 
Earl of Salisbury ; who, on the 3d of MayJ 1603, entertained 
King James I., then on his journey to London to assume the 
English Crown. This costly entertainment was repeated in 
1606, when that sovereign was accompanied by Christiern 
IV., King of Denmark, and, from these visits, King James 
became so great an admirer of Theobald's, that he at length 
exchanged for it the Palace of Hatfield ; after which it be- 
came his favorite residence, and he died there on March the 
27th, 1625. His son Charles also occasionally lived at 
Theobald's : he there received the Petition from the Parlia- 
ment in 1642, and it was thence he went to assume the com- 
mand of his army. In 1650, after a minute Parliamentary 
survey, and some disputes concerning its sale, the greater 
part of Theobald's was taken down, and the amount re- 
ceived for the materials sold employed for the use of the 
army. About 1660, George Monk, Duke of Albemarle, re- 
ceived Theobald's by patent from King Charles II. ; but on 
the failure of male issue in the second Duke Christopher, 
the property again returned to the Crown. In 1689, King 
William III. issued a patent granting it to William Ben- 
tinck, Earl of Portiand j but about 1762, it was sold to 
Geoi"ge Prescott, Esq., from whom it has ultimately descended 
to Sir George William Prescott, Bart., the present possessor. 
Of the magnificence of the Palace at Theobald's, some idea 
may be formed from the particular description given of it in 
the Life of Lord Burghley, in Peck's " Desiderata Curiosa " ; 
that by Sir Paul Hentzner ; that in the " Voyages Celebres" 
of the Sieur Jean Albert de Mandelslo ; that in the Parlia- 
mentary Survey of 1650, already mentioned ; and also from 



NOTES. 409 

a short notice in the "Description of Hertfordshire," by 
John Norden. See also the Rev. Daniel Lysons's "Envi- 
rons of London," vol. iv. pp. 29-39, and " Clutterbuck's 
History and Antiquities of the County of Hertford," vol. ii. 
pp. 87-95, whence the foregoing account has been ab- 
stracted. There are two small old views of the exterior of 
this mansion, by John Stent and Peter King ; but the best is 
that published by the Society of Antiquaries, in 1765, in the 
second volume of the " Vetusta Monumenta," under the 
name of Richmond Palace, from a painting by Vinkenboom. 
It was identified as Theobald's in The Gentleman's Magazine, 
for September, 1836, and engraven as an illustration in Mr. 
Pickering's edition of the Complete Angler. In 1840, in 
the first volume of Mr. C. J. Richardson's Architectural Re- 
mains of Elizabeth and James I. Part ii. plate x. were pub- 
lished for the first time fac-similes of Thorpe's original plans 
of the basement and ground-floor of Theobald's Palace, from 
the collection of the architect's drawings in the Museum of 
Sir John Soane. The fragments of the old Theobald's 
House were taken down about 1765, the present building 
standing on a rising ground, about a mile to the northwest 
of the ancient site. Theobald's House is not mentioned 
in the First Edition of the Contemplative Man's Recre- 
ation. 

Page 66. Then first, for the antiquity of Angling. 

At this place, in Walton's First Edition, p. 12, there is a 
marginal reference to "J. Da. Jer. Mar." as the authorities 
which furnished this paragraph ; which are certainly meant 
for John Davors, and Jervis or Gervase Markham. The 
beautiful verses by the former of these persons, on page 85, 
have been, however, considered to belong rather to a John 
Dennys ; since those stanzas which in the First Edition of 
Walton, p. 35, are marked Jo. Da., afterwards extended into 
Davors, form a part of a very rare poem entitled "The 
Secrets of Angling, by J. D., Esquire," first printed in 
octavo in 1613. In a modern reprint of this very curious 
work, the following extract from the Books of the Stationers' 
Company gave an account of this poem and the Author. 



410 NOTES. 

" 1612. 23 Martij. Mr. Rog. Jackson entred for his copie 
under th'ands of Mr. Mason and Mr. Warden Hooper, a 
booke called the Secrete of Angling, teaching the choycest 
tooles, bates, and seasons, for the taking of any fish in any 
pond or river, practised and opened in three bookes, by John 
Dennis, Esquire." It is, however, possible that John Davors 
was a maternal relative of the author, and assisted him in his 
work, and that this circumstance was known to Walton. 
There are fourteen lines prefixed to the poem in commenda- 
tion "of his praiseworthy skill and work," signed "Jo. 
Daves," which might have been an old or contracted way of 
writing the name of Davors. The passage at present al- 
luded to by Walton will be found in that division of the 
poem entitled "The Author of Angling, Poetical Fictions," 
and on p. 13 of the reprint of 181 1, beginning "Then did 
Deucalion first the art invent." The Stanzas which Piscator 
quotes on p. 85 will be found in the division called ' ' A 
Worthy Answer," on p. 10, " O let me rather on the pleasant 
brinke," etc.; and in this instance, as in nearly every other, 
Walton has improved his author. The passage referred to 
in Markham will be found in his "Pleasures of Princes, or 
Good Men's Recreations ; containing a Discourse of the gen- 
erall Art of Fishing with an Angle or otherwise." Lo7id. 
1614, 4I0, Chap. 1. " Of Angling the vertue, vse, and antiq- 
uitie," p. 3. Sir John Hawkins supposed that when Pis- 
cator is defining the mental character of a fisherman, Walton 
had in his mind that singular chapter in Markham's Country 
Contentments, on the subject of the "Angler's Apparel and 
Inward Qualities " ; but it is more probable that he alluded 
to those stanzas contained in the third book of The Secrets 
of Angling, which are entitled " The Qualities of an 
Angler." 

Page 67. In the Prophet Amos mention is made of fish- 
hooks. 

Chap. iv. 2. Canne, in his marginal references to this 
chapter, refers to Jeremiah xvi. 16: "Behold I will send 
for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them." 
The passage of Job which the text refers to will be found in 



NOTES. 411 

chap. xli. 1, 2, and the 7th verse is also distantly allusive 
to the formation of hooks. Again, in Isaiah the word 
occurs in chap, xxxvii. 29. "I will put my hook in thy 
nose." And also in chap. xix. 8, which Bishop Lowth 
translated 

" And the fishers shall mourn, and lament ; 
All those that cast the hook on the river, 
And those that spread nets on the face of the waters shall languish." 

Isaiah, a New Translation, etc. by Robert 
Lowth, D.D., Land. 1795, 8vo, p. 56. 

The common translation of King James reads, "all they that 
cast angle into the brooks shall lament. " In Ezekiel xxix. 
4, hooks are mentioned in connection with fishing, as the 
medium of catching the King of Egypt, who is represented 
under the figure of the crocodile, lying in the midst of his 
rivers ; and the word occurs again in Ezek. xxxviii. 4 The 
Prophet Habakkuk, in chap. i. 14-17, has an inference 
to hooks, but the word is commonly translated Angle. 
Hawkins. 

Page 67. In ancient times a debate hath arisen, etc. 

This was a favorite subject with the old theological writers 
of Italy ; and the chief of their arguments, with many refer- 
ences, are considered in "A collection of several Tracts of 
the Right Honorable Edward, Earl of Clarendon, Lond. 
1727, fol. pp. 167-205. This tract was most probably 
written at Montpellier in March, 1670. Hazvkins. Walton, 
however, might probably allude to a rare piece by Evelyn, 
which he wrote in answer to Sir George Mackenzie, en- 
titled "Public Employment, and an Active Life preferred to 
Solitude." Lond. 1667. i2mo. 

Page 69. The learned Peter Du Moulin. 

This very eminent writer in the Romish controversy was 
the eldest son of Peter Du Moulin, who was also celebrated 
in the same cause. He was Chaplain to King Charles II. of 
England, and a Prebendary of the Cathedral of Canterbury, 
in which city he died in 1684, at the age of 84. The pas- 
sage alluded to by Walton will be found in No. 30 of the 
preceding list, at sign, a 3 in the Preface to the Reader. 



412 NOTES. 

Page 69. And an ingenious Spaniard says. 

This passage is commonly supposed to allude to John 
Valdesso, a Spanish soldier in the service of the Emperor 
Charles V. ; of whom, in his old age, he obtained leave to 
retire, by urging the aphorism, "It is fit that between the 
employment of life and the day of death some space should 
intervene " : reflection on this is thought to have been the 
chief reason of that Sovereign's abdication, of which Walton 
gives a particular narrative in his Life of Mr. George Her- 
bert. Valdesso secluded himself in the city of Naples, and 
there wrote, in the Castilian tongue, "The Hundred and 
Ten Considerations of Signor Valdesso," which were trans- 
lated into Italian by Cajlius Secundus Curio, of Basil, and 
thence into English by the celebrated Nicholas Farrar, Jun. 
of Little Gidding, and published in 410 at Oxford in 1638. 
From this work the passage in the text is said to have been 
taken, but it does not appear there. Hawkins. 

Page 70. One of no less credit than Aristotle. 

In the margin of the First Edition of Walton is inserted at 
this place, "In his Wonders of Nature. This is confirmed 
by Ennius, and Solon in His Holy History." The circum- 
stances mentioned by Camden will be found in his Britannia, 
see No. 8 in the preceding list, at pages 558 and 762. The 
Sabbatical River of Josephus is described in the Seventh 
Book and 5th Chapter of his History, No. 24 in the list ; 
and in the fifth volume of Purchas, his Pilgrims and Pilgrim- 
age, p. 581, will be found some additional particulars and 
references concerning it. 

Page 71. Learned Dr. Casazcboii's discourse. 

Meric, son of Isaac Casaubon, a man of veiy great learn- 
ing, was born at Geneva in 1599, and was educated at Ox- 
ford ; he was afterwards made a Prebendary of Canterbury, 
in addition to which Oliver Cromwell vainly endeavored to 
engage him by a pension of ^300 to write the history of his 
time. He died in 1671, bearing an amiable character for 
loyalty, religion, and charity : he wrote, many volumes, but 
the singular work mentioned in the text will be found at 
No. 10 of the preceding list, and the passage alluded to com- 
mences at page 243 of that edition. 



NOTES. 



413 



Page J 1. Collected by John Tradescant. 

Of these names there were three persons, grandfather, 
father, and son ; of whom the son is the one alluded to in 
the text. They were all eminent botanists, and collectors 
of natural curiosities ; the two former were gardeners to 
Queen Elizabeth, and the latter held the same situation 
under Charles I. They resided at South Lambeth in Sur- 
rey, at a building now known by the name of Turret-House ; 
and, dying there, were buried in an altar-tomb, singularly 
ornamented, in Lambeth churchyard. With the youngest 
of the family Mr. Ashmole contracted an intimacy, and, to- 
gether with his wife, boarded at his house for a summer ; 
during which time he agreed with him for the purchase of 
his whole collection of rarities, and it was accordingly con- 
veyed to him by a deed of gift from Tradescant and his wife. 
On his death, Ashmole was obliged to file a bill in Chan- 
cery for the delivery of his property ; but soon after a decree 
had been pronounced in his favor Mrs. Tradescant was dis- 
covered drowned in her own pond. This collection of 
natural curiosities, which was the first made in England, 
Ashmole bequeathed with all its additions to the University 
of Oxford, and thus founded the Ashmolean Museum. Haw- 
kins. The list of strange Fishes, etc., mentioned by Walton, 
will be found at page 8 of a Catalogue of the Collection, en- 
titled "Museum Tradescantium, or a Collection of Rarities 
preserved at South Lambeth, near London, by John Trade- 
scant." Loud. 1656, 8vo. The passage from the words, 
"But I will lay aside," p. 71, down to "she locks up her 
wonders," p. 72, was not inserted till Walton's Fifth Edition. 
Ellas Ashmole, who is mentioned in the same sentence with 
Tradescant, was born May 16, 1617, and was a Chorister 
in Lichfield Cathedral. In 1638 he became a Solicitor in 
Chancery ; but in 1649 he married his second wife, the Lady 
Mary Mainwaring. who was possessed of a large fortune, and 
he resigned himself to alchemical study in concert with Wil- 
liam Lilly and John Aubrey, Esq., of Surrey. In 1660 
Charles II. gave him the office of Windsor Herald ; and ten 
years after he produced his excellent History of the Order of 



414 NOTES. 

the Garter. Ashmole married a third time in 1668, Eliza- 
beth Dugdale, daughter of Sir William Dugdale, and he 
died on May 18, 1692, celebrated for his knowledge of 
many and various Arts and Sciences. 

Page 73. Mr. George Herbert. 

This pious, learned, and eminent person was of the noble 
family of Herbert, and a younger brother of the deistical 
Edward Lord Herbert of Cherbury. He was a King's- 
Scholar at Westminster, and subsequently a Fellow of Trin- . 
ity College, Cambridge ; where;, in 1619, he was chosen 
University Orator. In that station he studied the modern 
languages with a view to the office of Secretary of State ; 
but being of a consumptive habit, and a retired turn of mind, 
he entered into holy orders, and was preferred to a Prebend 
in the Cathedral of Lincoln. He married about 1630 a 
near relation of the Earl of Danby, and died without issue in 
1635, at the age of forty-two. The printed works of Herbert 
are, a collection of Religious Poems called the Temple, his 
Remains, and a Translation of Luigi Cornaro's work on 
Temperance and Long Life. Walton. The passage quoted 
in the text is in the first of these, No. 22 of the foregoing 
list, pp. no, 113 of that volume, Stanzas 7, 8, 36. The 
word Owes in Herbert's verses is the older form of Owns. 

Page 73. Gesner, Rondeletius, Pliny, Atcsonius, Aristotle. 

Conrad Gesner, an eminent scholar, philosopher, physi- 
cian, and naturalist, was the son of Vasa Gesner and Bar- 
bara Friccius, and was born at Zurich in Switzerland in 15 16, 
and there received his initiation into the Greek and Latin 
languages. His poverty obliged him to travel, and at length 
to study physic at Basle, where he took his Doctor's degree, 
and then returned to Zurich. His works are very numerous, 
and were, many of them, evidently written in haste to pro- 
cure him a subsistence : of these, the principal is the " His- 
toric Animalium," for which he was surnamed the Pliny of 
Germany. For twenty-four years Gesner was Professor of 
Philosophy at Zurich, and he died of the plague on Decem- 
ber 13, 1565. Gnlielimis Rondeletius, or Guillaume Ron- 
delet, was a celebrated physician, who was bom at Mont- 



NOTES. 415 

pellier, in Languedoc, in 1507. He wrote several medical 
books, but his best production is his Treatise " De Piscibus 
Marinis," of which there is also a French translation. He 
died, in great poverty, at Realmont in Albigeois, on July 18, 
1566, of a surfeit, induced by eating figs to excess. Cains 
Plinius Secundus, surnamed the Elder, was born at Verona, 
and was celebrated as a soldier, a statesman, and a scholar. 
He wrote one hundred and sixty volumes of remarks on 
the authors which he had read ; but his Natural History, in 
thirty-seven books, is the only one of his works now extant. 
He perished in that eruption of Mount Vesuvius which over- 
threw Herculaneum, A. d. 79, in his fifty-sixth year. Deri- 
mus Magnus Ausonins was a Latin poet born at Bordeaux 
in Gaul ; and preceptor of Gratian, the son of the Emperor 
Valentinian, which occasioned him to be made Consul. 
His compositions are chiefly Epigrams from the Greek, Epi- 
taphs, and poetical Epistles. He died about A. D. 390. 
Aristoteles, the celebrated philosopher, was born at Stagira, 
and studied at Athens under Plato. He wrote above four 
hundred literary and scientific volumes, and Alexander the 
Great magnificently patronized his Natural History of Ani- 
mals. He died at the age of sixty-three, B. c. 322. 

Page 73. Divine Dn Bartas. 

Guillaume de Salluste, Sieur Du Bartas, was the son of a 
Treasurer of France, and was born in 1544, at Montfort in 
Armagnac. He served in the army of Henry IV., as the 
commander of a company of cavalry, in Gascony, under 
Marechal de Matignon ; and the King also employed him 
in various commissions to England, Denmark, and Scotland. 
His works are numerous, and written both in French and 
Latin verse; but his principal production is entitled "A 
Commentary of the Week of the Creation of the World," in 
seven books. In six years, it passed through upwards of 
thirty editions ; and an English translation of it in verse, by 
Joshua Sylvester, merchant-adventurer of London, was pub- 
lished in 1605. Du Bartas held the doctrines of Calvinism ; 
be was a modest and reserved man, a brave soldier, and he 
died in 1590, at the age of forty-six. The passage quoted in 



41 6 NOTES. 

the text will be found in the Fifth Day of the First Week, 
line 33, but it is considerably varied from the original : see 
No. 7 in the list of Authorities, and p. 39, col. 2, of that 
volume. In the quotation from Du Bartas in the text, the 
word Stares is put for Starlings : it is derived from the Saxon 
Staer or the Teutonic Sterre, ultimately from the Latin 
Sturnus. The Two Ecclesiastical Fishes mentioned by Du 
Bartas are described by Rondeletius, and delineated in the 
Posthumous Works of Mr. John Gregory, Lond. 1683, 4to, 
pages 121, 122. Hawkins. 

Page 74. The Cuttle-fish, etc. 

The margin in all the editions refers to Montaigne's Es- 
says, see No. 29 of the preceding list ; and in the Apology 
for Raymond de Sebonde, book ii. chap. xii. p. 256, is the 
passage alluded to. 

Page 75. JElian. 

Claudius /Elianus was a Roman sophist of Prameste in 
Italy, in the reign of Adrian, who originally taught Rhetoric 
at Rome ; but taking a dislike to his profession, he became 
an author, and wrote seventeen books De Animalium Na- 
tura, and fourteen of various History, etc., in Greek. He 
died in his sixtieth year, A. D. 140. The passage from the 
words " And there is a fish," down to "most of mankind," 
was not inserted till the Third Edition of The Complete 
Angler, 1664. 

Page 75. And first what Du Bartas says. 

See No. 7 in the preceding list, and the Fifth Day of the 
First Week, line 195, p. 41, col. 1, of that volume : the 
verses on the Cantharus and the Mullet mentioned on pages 
76 and 77, immediately follow the above at lines 201 and 
205 ; and Walton's reference to the custom of the Thracian 
women also came from Du Bartas, beginning at line 209"". 
The account of the Sargus was taken by Du Bartas from 
Oppian's Halieutics, lib. iv. 

Page 77. Pheer — prest. 

Pheer, or Fere, Saxon, Fera, Ge/era, is a Mate, an Equal ; 
and anciently, as in the present instance, a Husband or Wife. 
Prest is the old orthography of the French Pret, Ready. 
Hawki7is. 



NOTES. 



417 



Page 81. The Voyages of Ferdinand Mendez Pinto. 

A native of Monte Mor Ouelho in Portugal, born about 
1 5 10, and whose Travels, written by himself, have been very 
much questioned as to their truth. For twenty-one years of 
his life he was journeying chiefly in the East ; and during 
that time he was five times shipwrecked, seventeen times 
sold, and thirteen times made a slave : he returned to Lis- 
bon, September 22, 1558. A translation of his Voyages 
will be found in the list of authorities, No. 33 ; and the 
passage alluded to by Walton is in chap. 79, p. 319 The 
paragraph in which this traveller is mentioned did not ap- 
pear until Walton's Second Edition. 

Page 81. He that reads Plutarch. 

See No. 35 in the foregoing list, p. 983, marginal letter 
D, in that volume. Those passages from the words, "And 
for the lawfulness," down to "great learning have been," 
did not appear until Walton's Second Edition. 

Page 81. Angling is always taken in the best sense. 

See Cruden's Concordance, under the titles Fishing and 
Hunting. 

Page 81. Otir learned Perkins .... Doctor Win 'taker .... 
Doctor Nozvel. 

William Perkins was a learned divine, and a pious and 
laborious preacher ; and Dr. William Whitaker was an emi- 
nent writer in the Romish controversy, and Regius Professor 
of Divinity in the University of Cambridge. They both 
flourished at the close of the sixteenth century ; and the love 
of the latter for Angling is mentioned in Fuller's Holy State, 
book iii. chap. 13. Dr. Alexander Nowel was a learned 
divine, and a famous preacher in the reign of King Edward 
VI. ; upon whose death he, with many other Protestants, 
fled to Germany, where he lived several years. In 1561 he 
was made Dean of St. Paul's ; and died in 160 1. His mon- 
ument was consumed in 1666 ; but the inscription and an 
engraving of the tomb will be found in Dugdale's History of 
St. Paul's. There has been considerable dispute as to the 
Catechism alluded to by Walton : and it seems almost cer- 
tain that it is not the one printed in the Book of Common 

18* A A 



41 8 NOTES. 

Prayer. See Fuller's Worthies, Lane. 115, Athen. Oxon. 
113, and Churton's Life of Nowel, p. 366. Hawkins. See 
also Herbert's Typographical Antiquities, Edit, by the Rev. 
T. F. Dibdin, vol. iv. p. 13, and the Rev. E. Cardwell's 
Documentary Annals of the Reformed Church of England, 
vol. i. page 266, note. 

Page 83. Sir Henry. Wotton. 

An eminent scholar and statesman, born at Bocton Hall 
in Kent, in. 1568, and educated at Winchester School and 
New College, Oxford. Having travelled "about nine years, 
he became Secretary to Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex ; 
but upon his attainder he again went to the Continent, and 
attached himself to the Duke of Florence, who sent him as 
Ambassador to James VI. of Scotland. When that Monarch 
came to be King of England, he received Wotton into his 
service, knighted him, and employed him as his principal 
Ambassador. About 1624 he took Deacon's Orders, and 
was made Provost of Eton College, where he died in Decem- 
ber, 1639. Walton. The passage quoted in the text is in 
his Remains ; see the foregoing list, No. 43, and the recto 
of sign, c 6 in that volume. The poem printed on page 84 
is in the same book at p. 524 ; and in these verses the word 
Pilgrim is put for the Swallow, because of its migrations. 

Page 90. The gloves of an Otter, etc. 

All the particulars related of the Otter were derived from 
the Rev. Edward Topsell's Natural History ; see No. 41 in 
the list of Authorities, and pp. 572-575 of that volume. 
The work is, in effect, a translation of the Historic Anima- 
lium of Gesner, and contains numerous references to many 
learned authorities. The Rev. Edward Topsell, by whom it 
was executed, was Chaplain to Dr. Neile, Dean of West- 
minster, in the Church of St. Botolph, Aldersgate. The Sec- 
ond Chapter in the First Edition of Walton contains a great 
part of the matter of the present Chapters II., III., IV.; 
since it ends with the Hostess calling Viator and Piscator to 
supper. The title of it, in the table already mentioned, is 
"In the Second are some observations of the nature of 
the Otter, and also some observations of the Chub or 



NOTES. 419 

Cheven, with directions how and with what baits to fish 
for him." 

Page 93. Make conscience of the Laws of the Nation. 

This passage — which from "Is not mine Host a witty- 
man?" p. 93, down to "To speak truly," p. 94, is wanting 
in the First Edition — alludes to a statute made in the 5th 
of Eliz. , which enacts that any person eating flesh upon the 
usual Fish-days shall forfeit £3 for every offence, or undergo 
three months' imprisonment without bail. This Act, in all 
its branches, views, and amendments, is fully considered in 
a Tract published by John Erswicke, Gent., in 1642, 4to. 
entitled "A briefe note of the benefits that grow to this 
Realme by the obseruation of Fish-daies with a reason and 
cause wherefore the Law in that behalfe made is ordained." 
The statutes mentioned on p. 94, with many amendments, 
may be seen in "The Second Part or the Institutes of the 
Lawes of England," by Sir Edw. Coke, Lond. 1642, fol. p. 
477. In most of the former editions of The Complete An- 
gler there is a misprint of Richard III. for Richard II. 

Page 105. You shall read in Seneca. 

These particulars were taken from Dr. Hakewill's Apol- 
ogy, No. 21 in the preceding list, and book iv. sect. 6, p. 
433 of that volume. The translation of Seneca by Dr. 
Thomas Lodge, printed in 1620, fol., was however most 
probably known to Walton. 

Page 107. His name is of a German offspring. 

Minsheu shows it to be rather from the Low-Dutch Trort, 
derived probably of the corrupt Latin Truta. 

Page 108. Meixator says, etc. 

Gerard Mercator was born in 1512, at Ruremonde in 
Flanders, and was a man of such intense application to 
mathematical studies, that he neglected the refreshments 
of nature. He engraved and colored with his own hand 
the maps to his geographical writings. He wrote several 
books of Theology ; and died at Duisburg in 1 594. Haw- 
kins. 

Page 109. Sir George Hastings. 

The party referred to by Walton has been usually supposed 



42 o NOTES, 

to be the Hon. Henry Hastings of Woodlands, near Cran- 
borne in Dorsetshire, who died October 5, 1650, at the 
age of ninety-nine. His character was written with great 
humor and ability by Lord Shaftesbury, and was inscribed 
under his portrait at Winbourne St. Giles ; it may be also 
found printed in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xxiv. p. 
160, and in Hutehins's History of Dorset, Edit. 1S03, vol. ii. 
p. 510, with other particulars. It is, however, more prob- 
able that die person to whom Walton alludes was either Sir 
George Hastings, the son of Henry, who died October _;. 
165 1 ; or Sir George, the nephew of Henry, the brother of 
Henry, Fifth Earl of Huntingdon, who is recorded in Rich- 
ard Smith's Obituary to have died of the plague on June 4, 
1641. See Peck's "Desiderata Curiosa," vol. ii. lib. xiv. p. 
19. Collins's Peerage, Edit. 1779, vol. iii. p. 97. 

Page no. Albertus observes, etc. 

Albertus Magnus, a German Dominican, and a very 
learned man. Urban IV. compelled him to accept of the 
Bishopric of Ratisbon. He wrote a treatise on the Secrets 
of Nature, and twenty other volumes in folio ; and died at 
Cologne in 12S0. Hawkins: The passage in the text is 
from Topsell's History of Serpents, Xo. 42 in the preceding 
list. p. 1 So of that volume. The quotation from Bacon will 
be found at p. 194, Century ix. of Xo. 3. See also Dr. 
Franklin's letter to M. Dubourg, "On the prevailing Doc- 
trines of Life and Death." 

Page 113. The Royal Society, etc. 

See Xo. 37 in the foregoing list, pp. 2170- 21 75 ; the list 
alluded to is on the last page. This passage did not appear 
until Walton's last edition. The word sle':ght on the follow- 
ing page is from the Icelandic Slaegd or the Anglo-Saxon 
Slyth, Deceit, or Deceitful. 

Page 116. That smooth so>ig which teas made by Kit 

Christopher Marlowe, or Marloe, was a poet of consider- 
able eminence, and is called by Phillips "a kind of second 
Shakespeare."' He is supposed to have been born about 
1562, and in 15S7 he became M. A. at Bene't College, 



NOTES. 42I 

Cambridge ; after which he commenced actor and dramatic 
writer. There are extant five Tragedies of his writing, and 
a Poem entitled Hero and Leander, which was finished by 
George Chapman. The song attributed to Marlowe in the 
text is printed with his name in England's Helicon, 1600, 
4to ; as is also the Answer, there signed Ignoto, but ascribed 
by Walton to Sir Walter Raleigh. Marlowe is said towards 
the end of his life to have become a professed atheist : he 
died before 1593, of a wound given him by a serving-man, 
who was his rival. Hawkins. 

Page 117. What song was it, I pray ? 

See the songs As at Noon, Chevy Chare, Johnny Ann- 
strong, and Troy Town, printed after the most authentic 
copies in Percy's Reliques of English Poetry. Hawkins 
PI 1 i Hi da flouts me was printed in the Theatre of Compliments 
Lond. 1689, i2mo ; but it is also to be found in a volume 
collected by J. Ritson, entitled Ancient Songs from the 
Time of King Henry the Third to the Pervlntion. Lond. 
1792, l2mo, Art. xi. p. 235. The Editor of that collection 
states, in the notice preceding the verses, that there is a mod- 
ern Answer by A. Bradley, and that the song of Come, 
She/herds, is not known ; the last, however, was discovered 
in a manuscript belonging to the late Richard Heber, Esq., 
and was printed in Mr. Pickering's edition of the Com- 
plete Angler, from the communication of Mr. T. Rodd. 

Page 118. Come, live with me, and be my love. 

The notes of various Shakespearian commentators on the 
Comedy of The Merry Wives of Windsor contain the prin- 
cipal information now extant concerning this song ; but the 
propriety of ascribing it to Shakespeare is also considered 
in Dr. Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, vol. i. p. 
322, where it is printed under the title of The Passionate 
Shepherd to his Love. Dr. Warburton assigns it to Shake- 
speare, perhaps because Sir Hugh Evans, in Act iii. Sc. 1, 
of the above play, sings four - lines of it ; and it was printed, 
with some variations, in a collection of Poems said to be 
Shakespeare's, printed by Thomas Cotes for John Benson, 
1640, l2mo. 



42 2 NOTES. 

Page 119. Sir Thomas Overbury's Milkmaid's wish. 

See the preceding list, No. 32, in which the following ex- 
quisite character is delineated with a simple beauty of lan- 
guage that is the very counterpart of Walton's own. 

" A /aire and happy Milk-Maid 

Is a Countrey Wench, that is so farre from making her selfe 
beautifull by Art, that one looke of hers is able to put all 
face-Physicke out of countenance. She knowes a faire looke 
is but a Dumbe Orator to commend vertuej therefore minds 
it not. All her excellencies stand in her so silently, as if 
they had stolne upon her without her knowledge. The lin- 
ing of her apparell (which is her selfe) is farre better than 
outsides of Tisseio : for though she be not arrayed in the 
spoile of the Silke-worme, shee is deckt in innocency, a far 
better wearing. She doth not, with lying long abed, spoile 
both her complexion and conditions ; Nature hath taught 
her, too immoderate sleepe is rust to the Soide : she rises there- 
fore with Chaunticleare her dame's cock, and at night makes 
the Lamb her Curfew. In milking a Cow, a-straining the 
Teats through her fingers, it seems that so sw-eet a Milk- 
presse makes the Milk the whiter or sweeter ; for never 
came Almond Gloz'e or Aromatique oyutmeut on her palme 
to taint it. The golden eares of corne fall and kisse her feet 
when shee reapes them, as if they wisht to be bound and led 
prisoners by the same hand that fell'd them. Her breath is 
her own, which sents all the yeare long of June, like a new- 
made Haycock. She makes her hand hard with labor, and 
her heart soft with pitty ; and when winter evenings fall 
early (sitting at her mery wheele) she sings a defiance to the 
giddy wkeele of Fortune. She doth all things with so sweet 
a grace, it seems ignorance will not suffer her to doe ill, be- 
ing her mind is to doe well. Shee bestowes her yeare's 
wages at next faire ; and in chusing her garments, counts no 
bravery i' th' world like decency. The Garden and Bee-hive 
are all her Physick and Chyrurgery, and she lives the longer 
for 't. She dares goe alone, and unfolds sheepe i' th' night, 
and feares no manner of ill, because she meanes none : yet 



NOTES. 



423 



to say truth, she is never alone, for she is still accompanied 
with old songs, honest thoughts, and prayers, but short ones ; 
yet they have their efficacy, in that they are not pauled with 
insuing idle cogitations. Lastly, her dreames are so chaste, 
that shee dare tell them : only a Fridaie's dreame is all her 
superstition : that shee conceales for feare of anger. Thus 
lives she, and all her care is that she may die in the Spring- 
time, to have store of flowers stucke upon her winding- 
sheet." Character 51, sign. L. 7. From the copy in the 
Library of Sion College, London. 

Page 124. The choice songs, etc. 

The Song of Old Tom of Bedlam will be found in Percy's 
Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, vol. ii. p. 356. It is 
aLo printed in Playford's " Antidote against Melancholy," 
1669, 8vo ; "and with the Music, composed by H. Lawes, 
in a work entitled Choice Ayres; Songs, and Dialogues, to 
the Theorbo-Lute and Base-Viol." Fol. 1675. Hawkins. 
In the volume of Ancient Songs already cited, pp. 261, 265, 
there are two different songs, both called Tom of Bedlam, 
which are stated to have been taken out of an old Miscel- 
lany, entitled " Le Prince d' Amour, or the Prince of Love, 
with a Collection of Songs, by the Wits of the Age. " Lond. 
1660, 8vo. The Editor adds, however, that the above were 
inserted in the collection in burlesque, on the love of the 
English for ballads on the subject of madness. See Percy's 
Reliques, vol. ii. p. 350. The song of "The Hunter in his 
Career," also mentioned in the text, is reprinted for the first 
time in Mr. Pickering's edition of the Complete Angler, 
from a collection of old ballads published in 1725. In 
Walton's First Edition, this passage is contained in the Third 
Chapter; which is entitled "In Chapter 3 are some obser- 
vations of Trouts, both of their nature, their kinds, and their 
breeding." 

Page 138. Aldrovandus. 

Ulysses Aldrovandus, a great physician and naturalist, 
born at Bologna in 1527; he wrote 120 books on several 
subjects, and a Treatise " De Piscibus," published last at 
Francfort, 1 640. He died blind in an hospital at Bologna, 



4^4 NOTES. 

in great poverty. May 4, 1605. The passage alluded to in 
the text is in his " Serpentum et Draconum Historise," 
1640, fol. Hawkins. 

Page 139. The observation of Du Bartas. 

See No. 7 in the foregoing list, p. 5S, col. 2. the last 20 
lines. 

Page 143. Devout Lcssius. 

Leonard Lessius, Professor of Divinity in the College of 
Jesuits at Louvain ; he was born at Antwerp in 1554 ; and 
became very famous for his skill in divinity, civil-law. 
mathematics, physic, and histoiy. He wrote several the- 
ological tracts, and a treatise entitled Hygiasticon ; see N. 
26 in the preceding list, from the third chapter of which the 
sentiments in the text were extracted. He died in 1623. 
Hawkins. 

Page 145. Mr. Thomas Barker. 

This person, an account of whom is to be derived only 
from his writings, appears to have been an Angler by pro- 
fession, and an experienced cook of fish ; since he says he 
"had been admitted into the most Ambassadors' kitchens 
that had come to England for forty years, and drest fish for 
them ; for which, he adds, he was duly paid by the Lord 
Protector." He spent a considerable portion of his time, 
and, it seems, of his property also, in fishing ; and in the 
latter part of his life, he resided in Henry the Seventh's 
Gifts, some almshouses which stood near the Gatehouse at 
Westminster. Hawkins. His work on Angling will be 
found at No. 6 of the preceding list, and the information 
contained in the text is at pp. 2 and 15 of the very neat 
reprint of that tract, published in 1821. 

Page 151. Holy Mr. Herbert. 

See No. 22 of the foregoing list, p. So of that volume. 

Page 153. Ch. Harz'ie. 

The verses with this signature do not appear until the 
Second Edition ; for the dialogue in the First passes imme- 
diately from Herbert's verses to the Beggars' Song, which is 
there sung by Viator, without the introductory story. It is 
most probable that the person mentioned above was a 



NOTES. 



425 



Christopher Harvey, M. A., Vicar of Clifton in Warwick- 
shire; born in 1597, and who lived until about 1663. The 
same signature also appears to a copy of verses addressed to 
Walton on his Angler ; and that collection of poems en- 
titled the Synagogue is supposed to have been produced by 
the same person. Hawkins. 

Page 154. Dr. Boteler. 

Dr. William Butler, a celebrated but eccentric physician, 
who was born at Ipswich about 1535, and educated at 
Clare-Hall, Cambridge, of which he became Fellow. He 
died January 29, 16 18, and was buried at St. Maiy's Church, 
Cambridge. 

Page 154. Hear my Kenna sing a song. 

The reference to the margin indicates that Walton wishes 
to hear Kenna, his mistress, sing the song, Like Hermit 
Poor. This song was set to music by Nicholas Laneare, an 
eminent master of Walton's time, — who, it is said by Woorl, 
was also an excellent painter, and whose portrait is to be 
seen in the Music-school at Oxford, — and is printed with 
the notes in a collection entitled Select Musical Ayres and 
Dialogues, fol. 1659, page I. The verses which introduce 
this song were in all probability the production of Walton, 
for it may be observed that Kenna is evidently a feminine 
formation of Ken, the maiden name of his second wife. The 
first three words of the song of " Like Hermit Poor" were 
used as a proverb or phrase, about and after the middle of 
the seventeenth century. Hawkins. 

Page 157. Our late English Gusman. 

The very curious volume to which this passage alludes is 
entitled " The English Guzman ; or the History of that un- 
paralleled Thief James Hind, written by G(eorge) F(idge)." 
Lond. 1652, 4to. In the King's Tracts in the British Mu- 
seum. 

Page 160. Gaspar Peucems. 

An eminent physician and mathematician, born at Lusa- 
tia, in 1525 : he married the daughter of Melancthon, wrote 
many books on various subjects, and died in 1602, aged 
seventy-eight. Hawkins. Casaubon quotes him at p. 252 



426 NOTES. 

of his book, No. 10 of the foregoing list. The paragraph 
from which the above line is quoted did not appear as it 
now stands until the Fifth Edition of Walton. The Hares 
changing sexes is mentioned by Topsell, see No. 41, p. 266. 

Page 163. Learned Doctor Hakewill. 

Dr. George Hakewill was born at Exeter in 1579, and 
was Rector of Exeter College, Oxford ; he died at his living 
of Heanton in Devonshire, in April, 1649. His book will 
be found at No. 21, of the list, and the contents of the para- 
graph in the text, which did not appear Until the Second 
Edition of Walton, are from p. 434 of that volume. In 
Walton's First Edition this part falls in Chap. V. , which is 
entitled, "Some direction to fish for the Trout by night; 
and a question whether fish hear ? and lastly, some directions 
how to fish for the Umber or Grayling." The titles of the 
other chapters in the First Edition do not greatly differ from 
those in the present. 

Page 167. Salvian takes him, etc. 

Hippolito Salviani, an Italian Physician, of the sixteenth 
century ; he wrote a treatise " De Piscibus cum eorum figu- 
ris " ; and died at Rome in 1572, aged fifty-nine. Hawkins. 
The passage in the text is in chap. vi. p. 81, of No. 38 in 
the preceding list. All references to Gesner concerning fish 
will be found in the fourth volume of No. 19. 

Page 169. The Salmon . ... is said to breed, etc. 

This very interesting and curious subject has been recently 
most minutely examined and illustrated by Mr. W. Yarrell, 
F. L. S., in his work "On the Growth of the Salmon in 
Fresh-water, with six colored engravings of the fish, of the 
natural size, exhibiting its character and exact appearance at 
various stages during the first two years." Lond. 1839. 
Oblong folio. 

Page 171. Michael Drayton. 

An excellent poet, born in Warwickshire in 1563. One 
of his principal works, which are very numerous, is the Poly- 
Olbion, a chorographical description of the rivers, moun- 
tains, forests, castles, etc., in this island. Although the 
poem has great merit, it is rendered much more valuable by 



NOTES. 427 

the learned notes of John Selden. The author died in 1631, 
and lies buried with the Poets in Westminster Abbey. 
Hawkins. The passage referred to is at p. 88 of No. 14 
of the foregoing list ; and in Camden it occurs at page 654. 
This extract is not in the First Edition of Walton. 

Page 1 78. Gesner mentions a Pike. 

This story is told by Dr. Hakevvill in his Apology, No. 21 
of the preceding list, lib. ii. chap. 8, sect. 2, p. 136, of that 
volume. Walton subsequently mentions several instances 
of the voracity of the Pike ; but, as a proof that other fish 
beside will swallow hard substances, Fuller, in his History of 
the Worthies of England, Land. 1662, fol. Northumberland, 
p. 310, relates from a book entitled " Vox Piscis," printed in 
1626, p. 13, that a Mr. Anderson, a townsman and mer- 
chant of Newcastle, who was afterwards knighted, and who 
was Mayor of that place in 1599, was conversing on the 
bridge there, and suddenly let his seal-ring fall into the river 
Tyne. As Mayor, he was entitled to the first Salmon 
caught in the season, and upon opening the one that was 
thus presented to him, his own ring was discovered in its 
stomach. 

Page 182. Dnbravins. 

Janus Dubravius Scala, Bishop of Olmutz in Moravia, in 
the sixteenth century, was born at Pilsen in Bohemia, was 
sent Ambassador into Sicily, and made President of the 
Chamber which tried the Rebels of Smalcald. His book 
alluded to by Walton is No. 15 in the foregoing list, the 
passage is in the 6th chapter of book i., and a translation of 
it was published in 4to, 1599, by George Churchey, Fellow 
of Lincoln's Inn. He is said to have died in 1559. Haw- 
kins. The extract from Dubravius is not in Walton's First 
Edition. 

Page 186. Cardanus. 

Jerome Cardan, an Italian physician, naturalist, and as- 
trologer, born at Pavia, September 24, 1501, well known by 
the many works he has published : he died at Rome on Sep- 
tember 21, 1576. It is said that he had foretold the day of 
his death ; and that, when it approached, he suffered him- 



428 NOTES. 

self to die of hunger to preserve his reputation. He had 

been in England, and wrote a character of our Edward VI. 

Hawkins. 

. Page 192. Sir Richard Baker, in whose Chronicle, etc. 

Vide No. 5, p. 428, marginal letter E. It is probable 
that this rhyme, with all its variations, is historically errone- 
ous. Not in Walton's First Edition. 

Page 193. 'Tis said by Jovins. 

Paulus Jovius, an Italian historian, of very doubtful au- 
thority, was born at Como in 1483. He wrote a small tract 
De Romanis Piscibus, and he died at Florence in 1552. 
Hawkins. 

Page 217. Made by Doctor Donne. 

John Donne was bom in London about the year 1573, 
and was educated at Oxford and Cambridge, whence he- 
removed to Lincoln's Inn. He afterwards became secretary 
to Lord Ellesmere, and privately addressed and married a 
near relation of his lady's ; which was so highly resented by 
Sir George Moor, his wife's father, that Donne was dis- 
missed from his situation, and involved in the greatest pov- 
erty and distress. About 1614, he was persuaded to enter 
into holy orders, and he at length obtained the Deanery of 
St. Paul's ; but his misfortunes had induced a lingering con- 
sumption, of which he died in 163 1. Walton. Dr. Donne's 
Poems appear at No. 13 of the preceding list, and at p. 190 
of that volume are the verses quoted in the text, which are 
sometimes entitled "The Bait." The word sleave, on page 
186, is from the Icelandic Slefa, fibres of silk, and signifies 
to untwist ravelled silk. 

Page 221. Venerable Bede. 

The most universal scholar of his time : he was born at 
Durham about the year 671, and bred under St. John of 
Beverly. It is said that Pope Sergius I. invited him to 
Rome, though others say that he never quitted his cell. He 
was a man of great virtue, and remarkable for a sweet and 
engaging disposition ; he died in 734, and lies buried at 
Durham. The passage referred to in the text is in his Ec- 
clesiastical History of the Plnglish Nation, lib. iv. cap. 19. 



NOTES. 429 

Matthias de V Obel, who is mentioned in the same page, was 
an eminent physician and botanist of the sixteenth century, 
and was a native of L'Isle in Flanders. He was a disciple 
of Rondeletius, and was invited to London by King James 
I. He died in 1616. The book from which the text is 
quoted is No. 31 in the foregoing list. John Gerard, who 
is also cited with L'Obel, was a surgeon in London, and one 
of the most celebrated of English botanists ; he was born at 
Namptwich in Cheshire, in 1545. His Herbal, mentioned 
in the text, is No. 17 in the list of authorities, and the pas- 
sage referred to is in lib. 3, p. 1587, chap. 171, which is 
entitled "Of the Goose tree, Barnacle tree, or the Tree 
bearing Geese " : of this there is a curious woodcut. Hazv- 
kins. The passages from Lord Bacon, quoted on p. 222, 
are at p. 71, Nos. 46, 44, of his History, &c. ; those from 
Dr. Hakewill are in lib. iv. sect. 6, pp. 433, 434, of his 
Apology. The reference to Camden, on page 228, will be 
■found on page 666 of his Britannia. 

Page 230. Gasius. 

Antonio Gazius of Padua, the author of the "Corona 
Florida Medicinse," which he published at Venice in 1491, 
in folio, at the age of twenty-eight. He died in 1530. His 
names does not appear in Walton's First Edition. 

Page 232. Doctor Sheldon. 

Dr. Gilbert Sheldon, Warden of All- Souls College, Chap- 
lain to King Charles I., and, after the Restoration, Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury. He was born July 19, 1598, at 
Stanton in Staffordshire. He founded the Theatre at Ox- 
ford, died in 1677, and lies buried under a stately monu- 
ment at Croydon in Surrey. Hawkins. This passage is 
not in Walton's First Edition, and the Second reads, 
"Doctor Sh. " 

Page 243. Of which Diodorits speaks. 

Diodorus, surnamed Siculus, because his birthplace was 
Argyra in Sicily, was an excellent historian, who flourished 
about 44 years B. C. Of his History of Egypt, Persia, 
Syria, etc., there are only fifteen books remaining, but it 
originally consisted of forty : it was the work of thirty years, 



43° 



NOTES. 



THE ANGLER'S SONG.* 
Set by H. Lawes, 1653. 




m^ 



l_ V it f 

Man's life is but vain ; For 't is sub - ject 

-0- -0- -4- \ /i /i, \ 1 _J_ 



si a 







'T is a 



pain, And sorrow, and short as a bubble 



^ 



r-r^- 







hodge-podge of business and money and care ; and 
1I1 A I I 1 1 

-0- -0 -0- -0- I s - 4- 0-0 ■&■ j 

-? a := l-fi» — 






care and mon - ey 



and trou - ble. 



But 



>± v v. 4 



■*— 



^ I 

* Walton himself calls this a " Catch," — Hawkins styles it a Song, — 
probably from the nature of the words, although the music is perfectly 
that of the Madrigal so much in the fashion of the time, and now again 
revived by persons of the best musical taste. The above version is 



NOTES. 



431 



HARiMONIZED FOR FOUR VOICES. 
By J. S. Major, i 




harmonized for four voices, the Alto and Tenor being now first added. 
For the convenience of publication, the four parts are given on two 
staves instead of a stave for each voice, — a double tail being added 
where two voices sing the same note. 



432 NOTES. 

although the greatest part of it is a compilation. The pas- 
sage mentioned in the text is in book v. ch. i. 

Page 244. Phineas Fletcher. 

The son of Giles Fletcher, LL. D., and Ambassador from 
Queen Elizabeth to the Duke of Muscovy. He is said to 
have been born about 1584, and in 1600 he became Fellow 
of King's College, Cambridge. In 1633 he was known as 
the author of a fine allegorical poem, entitled : 'The Purple 
Island," which was printed at Cambridge,, with others of his 
works. He died about 1650. Hazvkins. 

Page 245. You must sing a part of it. 

These verses were composed for two voices, a treble and 
a bass, by the very celebrated Henry Lawes, most probably 
at Walton's request, and they are to be found at p. 62 of a 
volume entitled " Select Ayres and Dialogues for One, Two, 
and Three Voyces ; to the Theorbo-Lvte, and Basse- Viol. 
Composed by John Wilson and Charles Coleman, Doctors 
in Music, Henry Lawes," etc. Loud. 1659, foL It occurs 
in the First Edition of Walton. The verses in praise of 
Music are also in the First Edition of Walton, and are taken 
from the end of the same book of songs, where they are 
signed W. D., Knight, meaning perhaps Sir William Dave- 
nant. Hawkins. 

An harmonized version of Lawes's composition is given on 
the preceding pages. 

Page 254. Like the Rosicrucians. 

The title of the Rosycrucians, or the Brothers of the Rosy- 
Cross, was first assumed by a sect of Hermetic Philosophers 
in Germany, about the commencement of the fourteenth cen- 
tury. They professed to have a knowledge of all the occult 
sciences, as the making of gold, the prolongation of human 
life, the restoration of youth, from which they were also 
called Immortales, and the formation of the philosopher's 
stone ; but all these secrets they were bound by a solemn 
oath to reveal only to the members of their own fraternity, 
and it is to this custom, in particular, that Walton alludes. 
Their founder was a German gentleman, named Christian 
Crux, who had travelled to Palestine, where, falling sick, he 



notes. 433 

was cured by Arabian physicians, who, he asserted, revealed 
to him their mysterious arts. He died in 1484 ; and the 
name of his society was composed of the word Ros, Dew, 
and his own name, Crux, a Cross, the old chemical character 
for light. Mosheim. Gdssendi. Renaudot. Brticker. 

Page 255. Either to Mr. Margrave, etc. 

There is printed upon the reverse of the last leaf of Cot- 
ton's Second Part of the Complete Angler, Edit. 1676, the 
following memorandum concerning this person : " Courteous 
Reader. You may be pleas'd to take notice, that at the 
Sign of the Three Trouts in St. Paul's Church- Yard, on the 
North side, you may be fitted with all sorts of the best Fish- 
ing-Tackle, by John Margrave." 1 " 1 

The four earlier editions of Walton read, ' ' I will go with 
you either to Charles Brandon's (neer to the Swan in Gold- 
ing-Lane) ; or to Mr. Fletcher's, in the Court which did once 
belong to Dr. Nowel, the Dean of St. Paul's, that I told you 
was a good man and a good Fisher ; it is hard by the West 
end of St. Paul's Church ; they be both," etc. Viator 
selects Charles Brandon. This is in the last chapter of the 
First Edition. The marginal note on the value of an Angler's 
Tackle did not appear until the Second Edition. 

Page 263 . Matthiolus commends him . 

Petrus Andreas Matthiolus was born at Sienna in Tus- 
cany, in 1501. He was an eminent physician, and particu- 
larly famous for his Commentaries on some of the writings 
of Dioscorides. He died of the plague at Trent, in 1577. 
Hawkins. 

Page 265. As you may note out of Dr. Hey tin's Geography. 

See No. 23 in the foregoing list, from pages 458, 459 
of which this chapter, from the words ' ' The chief is Tham- 
isis," down to the end of Drayton's Sonnet, is printed 
almost verbatim. Dr. Peter Heylin was born at Burford in 
Oxfordshire, November 29, 1600. In 1619 he was made 
Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, and in 1621, he pub- 
lished his Microcosmos, alluded to in the text. He was 
steadfastly attached to King Charles I. , and wrote ■ for him 
the weekly paper entitled Mercurius Aulicus ; though his 
19 B B 



434 NOTES. 

loyalty reduced him to great poverty. He died on May 
8, 1662. 

Page 269. Grotius in his Sophom. 

Hugo Grotius, or De Groot, a very celebrated scholar, 
statesman, and theologian, who was born at Delft in Hol- 
land, on April 10, 1583. He was at first an advocate, 
but about 16 13 he became Grand-Pensionary of Holland ; 
though in 1618, for adhering to the doctrines of Arminius, 
he was confined for nine months in the castle at the Hague. 
Grotius died at Rostock in Pomerania, August 28, 1645. 
His works were very numerous, and a translation of that al- 
luded to in the text is shown at No. 20 in the foregoing list. 
The passage will be found at pages 29, etc., in the speech of 
the Chorus, and in the notes to the third Act, pages 84, etc. 
The title of the Tragedy, Sopho/npaneas, signified, in the 
Egyptian language, the Saviour of the World ; and was 
given to Joseph, Pharaoh's minister, because he delivered so 
many nations from destruction by famine. 

Page 283. It is well said by Catissin. 

Nicholas Caussin, a Jesuit and Confessor to Louis XIII., 
was born at Troyes in Champagne, in 1580. He was 
esteemed a person of great probity, and of such a spirit 
that he attempted to displace Cardinal Richelieu ; but that 
minister proved too powerful for him, and procured his ban- 
ishment to a city of Lower Bretagne. He returned to Paris 
after the Cardinal's death, and died in the Jesuits' Convent 
there, in July, 165 1. Hawkins. The " grave Divine " men- 
tioned on the next page, according to the Rev. Moses 
Browne, was Dr. Donne. The verses by Sir Henry Wot- 
ton, in the same place, are printed near the end of his 
Remains, No. 43 of the preceding list. 

Page 294. Brelsford. 

Brelsford, or Brailsford, a township in the Hundred of 
Appletree, in Derbyshire, situated about seven miles north- 
west of the Town of Derby. 

Page 297. Own me for his adopted Son. 

This alludes to the practice of the ancient Alchemists and 
Astrologers, of adopting favorite persons for their sons or 



notes. 435 

pupils, to whom they imparted their secrets. Hawkins. In 
the English translation of the Scriptures, the disciples of the 
Prophets are called "the Sons of the Prophets," with the 
same signification. 

Page 310. Tom Coriate. 

The son of the Rev. George Coriate, bora at Odcombe in 
Somersetshire, in 1577. He was educated at Westminster 
School, and at Gloucester Hall, Oxford ; after which, he 
went into the family of Henry Prince of Wales. He travelled 
almost all over Europe on foot, and in that tour walked 
nine hundred miles with one pair of shoes, which he got 
mended at Zurich. Afterwards he visited Turkey, Persia, 
and the Great Mogul's dominions ; proceeding in so frugal a 
manner that, as he tells his mother in a letter, in his ten 
months' travel between Aleppo and the Mogul's Court, he 
spent but three pounds sterling, living reasonably well for 
about twopence sterling a day ! He was a redoubted 
champion for the Christian religion, against the Mahometans 
and Pagans ; in the defence whereof he sometimes risked 
his life. He died of the flux, occasioned by drinking sack 
at Surat in 1617; having, in 1611, published his Travels in 
a quarto volume, which he called his Crudities ; in which, 
on the reverse of b. 1. in "a Character of the Author," is 
the passage alluded to in the text. Hawkins. 

Page 310. What have we here, a church ? 

This passage alludes to the Church at Alstonefield, a 
Parish in the North Division of the Hundred of Totmanslow, 
and County of Stafford ; it is dedicated to St. Peter, and 
stands five miles north-northwest from Ashborn. 

Page 316. Nmv you are come to the door. 

This celebrated Fishing-House, views of which are given 
at pages 319 and 321, is formed of stone, and the room within 
is a cube of fifteen feet, paved with black and white marble, 
having in the centre a square black marble table. The roof, 
which is triangular in shape, terminates in a square stone 
sun-dial, surmounted by a globe and a vane. It was origi- 
nally wainscoted with walls of carved panels and divisions, 
in the larger spaces of which were painted some of the most 



436 NOTES. 

interesting scenes in the vicinity of the building ; whilst the 
smaller ones were occupied with groups of fishing-tackle. In 
the right-hand corner stood a large beaufet with folding- 
doors, on which were painted the portraits of Walton and 
Cotton attended by a servant-boy ; and beneath it was a 
closet, having a Trout and a Grayling delineated upon the 
door. Such was the original appearance of the Fishing- 
House, as collected from a description given by Mr. White 
of Crickhowel to Sir John Hawkins, in 1784 ; although it 
was then considerably decayed, especially in the wainscot- 
ing and the paintings. To this, the following account of its 
present state, written from actual observation by W. H. 
Pepys, Esq., F. R. S., etc., will form an appropriate and an 
interesting counterpart. The visit which it details was made 
by a party composed of several eminent characters equally 
distinguished in Science and the Fine Arts. 

"It was in the month of April, 181 1, that I visited the 
celebrated Fishing-House of Cotton and Walton. I left 
Ashbourne about nine o'clock in the morning, accompanied 
by several Brothers of the Angle : we took the Buxton road 
for about six miles, and, turning through a gate to the left, 
soon descended into the valley of the Dove, and continued 
along the banks of the river about three miles farther, when 
we arrived at Beresford Hall. The Fishing-House is situated 
on a small peninsula, round which the river flows, and was 
then nearly enveloped with trees. It has been a small, neat 
stone building, covered with stone slates, or tiles, but is now 
going fast to decay : the stone steps by which you entered 
the door are nearly destroyed. It is of a quadrangular form, 
having a door and two windows in the front, and one larger 
window on each of the other three sides. The door was 
secured on the outside by a strong staple ; but the bars and 
casements of the windows being gone, an easy entrance was 
obtained. The marble floor, as described by White in 1784, 
had been removed : only one of the pedestals upon which the 
table was formerly placed was standing, and that much dete- 
riorated. On the left side was the fireplace, the mantle- 
piece and sides of which were in a good state. The chimney 



notes. 437 

and recess for the stove were so exactly on the Rumford 
plan, that one might have supposed he had lived in the time 
when it was erected. On the right-hand side of the room 
is an angular excavation or small cellar, over which the cup- 
board, or beaufet, formerly stood. The wainscoat of the 
room is wanting, the ceiling is broken, and part of the stone- 
tiling admits both light and water. Upon examining the 
small cellar, we found the other pedestal which supported 
the marble table ; and against the door on the inside, three 
large fragments of the table itself, which were of the Black 
Dove-Dale Marble, bevelled on the edges, and had been well 
polished. The inscription over the door, and the cipher of 
Walton and Cotton in the key-stone, were very legible." 

Page 336- As Damcetas says by his man Dorus. 

See Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, No. 40 in the foregoing 
list, lib. 1. p. 70, of that volume. Browne. 

Page 338. He was a lovely fish, and turned up a side like 
a salmon. 

There is but little doubt that the author of Guy Manner- 
ing had these words in his mind, when he wrote the descrip- 
tion of the Salmon-hunt near Charlies-hope ; since he makes 
one of the characters say, "Come here, Sir! Come here, 
Sir ! look at this ane ! look at this ane ! he turns up a side 
like a Sow." Edit. Edinb. 1815, vol. ii. chap. v. p. 65. 

Page 345. Isabella-colored. 

A species of whitish-yellow, or buff-color somewhat soiled. 
Altieri. The name of this tint is said to have originated in 
the following circumstance. The Archduke Albert, who 
had married the Infanta Isabella, daughter of Philip II., 
King of Spain, with whom he had the Low Countries in 
dowry, in the year 1602, having determined to lay siege to 
Ostend, then in the possession of the Protestants, the Prin- 
cess, who attended him in his expedition, made a vow, that 
until it was captured she would never change her garments. 
It was, however, three years before the city was reduced ; 
and in that time the Infanta's linen had acquired the hue 
above mentioned. Haivkins. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Abdominal Fishes, explanation of, 
384 ; Order of, 386. 

Action, its connection with Man's 
happiness, 68 ; Debates on ditto, 
411. 

iElian, C, 75 ; Account of, &c, 392, 
416. 

Air, eulogium on, 51. 

Albertus Magnus, no, 222; Ac- 
count of, 420. 

Aldrovandus, U., 138, 166, 214, 227; 
Portrait of, 168 ; Account of, &c, 
392, 423- 

Ambrose, St., his admiration of the 
Grayling, 167. 

Amos, Illustration from the Proph- 
et, 67, 80, 410. 

Amwell Hill, 47, 88, 89 ; View of, 
88. 

Anderdon, John L., Esq., his great 
love of Walton, and kind contri- 
butions to this work, ix. 

Anglers, eminent modern, 1 1 ; Dit- 
to ancient, 80 ; Qualities of, 66 ; 
The Angler's Wish, 85, 154 ; 
Ditto Song, 127 ; Their peculiar 
enjoyment of Nature, 18, 136. 

Angling, earliest English work on, 
17 ; Paper on, from the Sketch- 
Book, 22 ; Defence of, 50 ; Praise 
of, 65 ; Antiquity of, 66, 409 ; 
Allowed to Ecclesiastics, 81 ; Re- 
marks on, 82, 83 ; With an Arti- 
ficial Fly, 149 ; With a Natural 
Fly, 150, 321 ; At the Bottom, 
319, 371 ; In the Middle, 319, 
378 ; With Cadis, 258, 374 ; With 
a Minnow, 133 ; With a Run- 
ning-line, 133, 372 ; With a Ledg- 
er-bait, 184; With a Float, 374; 
By Hand, 371. 

Ant-Fly, 103, 250, 251 ; Directions 
for making, 359, 361. 

Apostles, four of them Fishermen, 
78 ; Comparison of their lan- 
guage, 80. 



April, Artificial Flies for, 144, 146, 
34°- 

Aristotle, 70, 73, 77, 193, 412 ; Ac- 
count of, 414. 

Ash-Grub, 375, 381. 

Ashmole, E., his collection of Nat- 
ural History, and Portrait of, 72 ; 
Account of him and his collec- 
tion, 413. 

August, Artificial Flies for, 145, 361. 

Ausonius, D. M., 73, 237 ; Account 
of, 414. 

Authors consulted by Walton, 
392- 

Bacon, Fr., Baron Verulam, refer- 
ences to, no, in, 162, 170, 172, 
175, 178, 196, 220, 222, 392, 420 ; 
Portrait of, 191. 

Baker, Sir R., references to, 192, 
392, 428. 

Barbel, observations on the, &c, 
229; Representation of the, 231 ; 
Season of the, 248 ; Linnjean 
description of the, 387. 

Barker, Tho., 18, 145, 392; Ac- 
count of, 424. 

Bartas, G. de S. Du, references to, 
73. 75. 76. 139. 221, 392, 415, 
424; Account of, 415. 

Bede, Venerable, his notice of the 
Island of Ely, 221 ; Account of, 
428. 

Beggars, humorous story of, 157. 

Beresford Hall, 300, 315 ; View of, 
330 ; Wa'ton Chamber, 389. 

Berners, Jul., her work on Hunting, 
&c, 17. 

Birds, various properties of, 53 ; 
Enemies to Fish, 94 ; Migrations, 
no ; Breed of, 114. 

Black Blue Dun- Fly, directions for 
making, 360. 

Fly, ditto, 144, 348, 358. 

Gnat- Fly, ditto, 345, 359. 

Hackle-Fly, ditto, 360. 



44o 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Bland, Michael, Esq., an advocate 

for a Monument to Walton, 32. 
Bleak, particulars of the, 237 ; 

Engraving of the, 237 ; Linnaean 

description of the, 388. 
Blue Dun- Fly, directions for mak- 
ing, 343, 345- 
Brandling, 131, 216. 
Bream, observations of the, 202; 

Engraving of the, 203 ; Seasons 

of the, 209 ; Linnaean description 

of the, 387. 
Bright Brown Fly, directions for 

making, 344. 

Dun Gnat-Fly, ditto, 341. 

Broderip, W. J., Esq., his various 

kind assistances to this work, xi., 

xii., xiv., 391. 
Browne, Rev. M., his praise of 

Walton, 20. 
Bull-Head, 260; Account of the, 

262 ; Linnaean description of the, 

3S5- 
Butler, Dr. W., remark of, 154; 

Account of, 425. 

Cadis-Worms, account of, 248, 257, 
350 ; How to angle with, 258, 

374, 37 6 > 3§i- 

Camden, W., references to, 42, 70, 
91, 210, 221, 223, 228, 269, 392 ; 
Portrait of, 99 

Cardanus, J., Extract from, 186; 
Notice of, &c, 392, 427. 

Carp, docility of, 163 ; Observa- 
tions of the, &c, 192; Represen- 
tation of the, 197 ; How to dress 
the, 200 ; Linnaean description of 
the, 387. 

Casaubon, Dr. M., references to, 
71, 160, 393, 412. 

Caterpillar, account of, 136. 

Caussin, N., references to, 283, 
393 ; Account of, 434. 

Chalkhill, J., verses by, 127, 242. 

Chub, observations on the, 89 ; 
Representation of the, 99 ; How 
to fish for and dress the, 100 : 
Linnaean description of the, 38. 

Confidence in God, incitements to, 
2S9. 

Conscience, happiness of a good, 
283. 

Contemplation, how connected with 
man's happiness, 68 : Debates 
on ditto, 411. 

Content, verses in praise of, 244, 
284; Incitements to, 289. 

Coriate, Tho., 310 ; Account of, 434. 



Cotton, Ch., various particulars of, 
4 ; Letter of, 5 ; Poem by, 7 ; 
Character of, n. 

Covetous men unhappy, 48. 

Life, Song in Praise of, 

I2 S- 
Country Scenery, beautiful descrip- 
tion of, 243. 

Dace, observations on the, 248 ; 
Engraving of the, 250 ; Linnaean 
description of the, 387. 

David, his exceeding gratitude to 
God, 282. 

Davison, F.; humorous song by, 
158. 

Davors, J., pastoral song by, 85 ; 
His real name, &c. 409. 

Davy, Sir H., Characteristic Memo- 
rial to his friend W. H. Pepys, 
Esq., 26. 

December, Artificial Flies for, 362. 

Dennys, J., his Secrets of Angling, 
410. 

Derbyshire, rivers in, 304. 

Diodorus Siculus, references to, 
243, 393, 43i- 

Donne, Dr. J., his Portrait, 1 ; 
Praise of Walton's life of, 2 ; 
Copy of a Seal given by him to 
Walton, 33 ; Verses by, 217 ; Ac- 
count of, &c, 393, 428. 

Dove River, account of, 304 ; 
Views near or on the Dove, 293, 
302, 313, 319, 330, 339, 3SS, 364, 
366, 37°, 37 8 >.382. 

Drayton, M., his description of the 
Salmon-leap, 171 ; Sonnet on the 
English Rivers, 267 ; Account of, 
&c, 393, 4 2 6. 

Dubravius, J. S., references to, 
182, 196, 271, 393 ; Account of, 
427 ; Portrait of, 274. 

Dun-Flies, 136; Directions for mak- 
ing 143, 34i- 

Earth, eulogy on, 57 ; Earth - 
Worms, how bred, 1 30. 

Eel, observations on the, and how- 
to fish for the, 220 ; How to dress 
the, 226 ; Linnaean description of 
the, 384. 

Elizabeth, Queen, her Laws on the 
eating Fish, 419. 

Feathers, a yellow dye for, 353. 
February, Artificial Flies for, 342. 
Fish, of extraordinary size, 61, 159, 
268 ; Have the sense of hearing, 



GENERAL INDEX. 



441 



162 ; Linnaean arrangement of, 
.383- 

Fisli-days, laws for their preserva- 
tion, 419. 

Fishhooks, mention of in the Script- 
ures, 67, 410. 

Fish-ponds, directions for making, 
270. 

Fishing-house, at Beresford Hall, 
View of, 319 ; Descriptions of, 
3i6. 435- 

Fletcher, P., Verses by, 244; Ac- 
count of, &c, 393, 432. 

Flies, Artificial, directions for 
making, 143, 146, 327, 331, 341, 
342 ; Materials for, 147 ; How to 
discover what are taken, 344 ; 
How to angle with, 323 ; Natu- 
ral, how to angle with, 150 ; 
Water, observations on, 258. 

Florio, J., account of, 402. 

Flounder, notice of and bait for the, 

22 7- 

Floud, R., his verses in praise of 
Walton, 34. 

Fly-fishing, remarks on, 5 ; Direc- 
tions concerning, 145, 321. 

Frogs, wonderfully sustained, no; 
Their enmity to the Pike, 182 ; 
How to bait with, 187, 188, 217. 

Fulimart, account of the, 405. 

Gasius, or Gazius, A., 230 ; Notice 

of, 431. 
Gentles, 130, 200, 203, 232, 250; 

How to breed, 252. 
Gerard, J., 221; Portrait of, 228; 

Notice of, &c, 393, 429. 
Gesner, C, references to, 73, 77, 91, 

107, 167, 172, 178, 191, 195, 202, 

214, 221, 222, 230, 262, 393, 427 ; 

Portrait of, 201 ; Account of, 414. 
Grasshopper, 102, 103, 204 ; How 

sustained without a mouth, 109. 
Grayling, or Umber, observa- 
tions on the, and how to fish for, 

166, 320 ; Engraving of, 167 ; 

How to dress, 369 ; Linnaean 

description of the, 386. 
Green-Drake Fly, account of, 350. 
Grotius, H., 269 ; Account of, &c, 
„ 393, 4S& . 
Ground*Bait for Bream, &c, 206 ; 

Angling by hand with, for, 372. 
Grubs, how to find and preserve, 

2 5 2 > 375 ' How to angle with, 374. 
Gudgeon, observations on, and 

how to fish for, 235 ; Linnaean 

description of, 388. 

19* 



Guiiiiad, notice of the, 228. 
Guzman, the English, 157 ; Notice 

of, 425- 
Gypsies, a party of, humorous story 

concerning, 155, 165. 

Hackle-Flies, directions for making, 
343- 

Hair, how to select, 275. 

Hake will, Dr. G., references to, 
163, 222, 393, 402, 419, 427 ; Ac- 
count of, 426. 

Hampshire, famous for Trout-Riv- 
ers, 162, 297. 

Hand, Angling by, explained, 371. 

Harvie or Harvey, Chr., his verses, 
153 ; Account of, 424. 

Hastings, Sir G., 109, 254; Notice 
of, 419. 

Hawking, the praise of, 51 ; Hawks, 
list of, 55, 56 ; Works on, 397, 

4°5-. 

Hawkins, Sir J., his statement con- 
cerning Walton, 13 ; His first 
Edition of the Complete Angler, 
20. 

Hawthorn-Fly, 149. 

Herbert, G., Portrait of, 1 ; Verses 
by, 73, 151 ; Account of, &c, 393, 
414, 424. 

Heylin, P., his description of Eng- 
lish Rivers, 265 ; Account of, &c., 
393, 433- 

Hoddesdon, Thatched-House at, 
45, 87 ; Notice of, 396. 

Holy Spirit, form of the descent 
of the, 55, 404. 

Hook, directions for baiting, 133, 
258, 263, 352, 371, 375. 

Hooker, R., Portrait of, 1. 

H umber, River, account of, 267, 

3°S : 

Hunting, the praise of, 57 ; Not 
permitted to Ecclesiastics, 81. 

Introductory Essay, 1. 

Irving, W., his eulogy on Walton, 
22. 

Isaac, Hebrew spelling and signifi- 
cation of, 395. 

Isabella-colored, 343 ; Historical 
explanation of, 437. 

January, Artificial Flies for, 34r. 
Josephus, F., references to, 70, 393, 

4 *~ 
Jovius, P., references to, 193, 393 ; 

Account of, 428. 



442 



GENERAL INDEX. 



July, Artificial Flies for, 144, 360. 
June, Artificial Flies for, 144, 358. 

Lamprels or Lampreys. 224, 227. 
Laneare, N., Song composed by, 

425- 
Lawes, H., Song composed by, 

Laws concerning Fish, 93, 419. 

Lea River, Views on, 45, 106, 177, 
213, 238, 259, 290. 

Lebault or Liebault, Dr. J., refer- 
ences to, 270, 272, 394. 

Lessius, L., references to, 143, 394, 

.4 2 4- 
Lines, various directions concern- 
ing, 275, 324, 371. 
Lmnjean Arrangement of River 

Fish, 383. 
Loach, representation of the, 260 ; 

Particulars concerning the, 262 ; 

Linnasan description of the, 386. 
Lob-Worm, 131, 132, 133, 174, 212, 

223. 
London -Bridge, excellent Roach 

near, 249. 
Lowth, Dr. R., illustration from, 

4 1 . 1 - 
Lucian, Verses prefixed to his Dia- 
logues, 48 ; Hickes's Translation 
of, 400. 

Macrobius, A., references to, and 

account of, 62, 406. 
Madely Manor, Staffordshire, View 

of, 39- 
March, Artificial Flies for, 144, 

344- 
Markham, G., illustrations from, 

397, 405, 409. 
Markland, Abr., account of, 395. 
Marlow, Chr., Song by, 116, 118; 

Account of, 420. 
Marsh-Worm, 198, 212. 
Martial, his Epigram on Fish, 164. 
Matthiolus, P. A., references to, 

263, 394 ; Account of, 433. 
May, Artificial Flies for, 144, 347. 
May-Fly, how to make, 149, 250 : 

Account of, 150 ; Various titles 

of the, 350. 
Meadow-Worm, 198. 
Medway, notice of the River, 267. 
Mercator, G., reference to, 108; 

Account of him, 419. 
Middle, Angling in the, 319, 378. 
Miller's Thumb, a name of the 

Bull-Head, 260. 262. 
Minnow, used as a Bait, 105, 130, 



133. '74. 216. 223, 238, 378, 379. 
Time ot catching, and description 
of the, 133, 261, 388 ; How to 
preserve and imitate, 135 ; Rep- 
resentation of the, 261 ; How to 
dress, 261 ; Linnaaan description 
of the, 388. 

Montaigne, M. de. references to, 
and account of, and Portrait, 49, 
74- 393. 4°°. 416. 

Moorish-Fly, how to make, 144. 

Moses, various references to, 55, 
59, 60, 62, 67, 80. 

Moss, for scouring Worms, 132. 

Mouldwarp, explanation of the 
name, 405. 

Moulin, P. Du, references to, and 
account of, 69, 394, 411. 

Mullet, how used in Roman Feasts, 
106 ; Verses on the, 77 ; Peculiar 
kind of, no. 

Music, to the Angler's Song, 430 ; 

Verses in praise of, 432. 



Nicolas, Sir H., his copious Life 
of, and Literary Illustrations of 
Walton, 21. 

Night-fishing, particulars of, 162. 

Nightingale, melody of, 54. 

Notes, Illustrative, 389 ; Character 
of the, 25. 

November, Artificial Flies for, 362. 

Nowel, Dr. Al., Portrait and Char- 
acter of, 81, 82 ; Account of, 417 ; 
Notice of his Residence, 433. 

Oak-Fly, directions for making and 
finding, 149, 150 ; Worm, 131. 

Obel, M. de L', references to, 221, 
394 ; Notice of, 429. 

October, Flies for, 362. 

OfHey, J., 3 ; Original Dedication 
t°> 37 '• View of his House, 40. 

Oils for Baits, remarks on, 175, 189, 
200, 254, 377. 

Orange- Fly, how to make, 360. 

Orders of Fishes, 383. 

Otter, great destruction of Fish by 
the, 47, 89, 93 ; Engraving and 
various particulars of the, 90 ; 
Description of an Otter-hunt, 91, 
396, 418 ; Tame ones taught to 
fish, 92 ; Power of the, to smell 
under water, 175. 

Overbury, Sir Tho., 119, 394; His 
Milkmaid's character, 422. 

Owl- Fly, how to make, 359. 

Palmer, or Pilgrim- Worm, account 



GENERAL INDEX. 



443 



of, 138; Palmer-Flies, directions 
for making, 146, 149, 342, 348. 

Pastes, for Chub, 105 ; For Carp, 
198, 200 ; For Bream, 203 ; For 
Tench, 212 ; For Barbel, 232 ; 
For Roach, 250. 

Peacock- Fly, how to make, 349, 
359- 

Pearch, observations on the, 214 ; 
Representation of the, 216, 388; 
How to fish for, 216; Linnaean 
description of the, 385. 

Pemble-Mere, a Fish peculiar to, 
228. 

Pepys, W. H., the friend of Sir H. 
Davy, 26 ; His account of Cot- 
ton's Fishing- House, 436. 

Perkins, W., his praise of Angling, 
81 : Account of, 417. 

Peucerus, G., 160 ; Account of, 

Pickerel-Weed, various properties 
of, 178, 184. 

Pigeons, various uses of, 54 : Their 
long flight for food, 91 ; Names 
of, 113- 

Pike, observations on the, 178; 
Instances of its voracity, 178, 182, 
427; Representation of the, 184; 
How to fish for, 184, 187 ; Baits 
for, ib., 187; How to dress, 189; 
Countries of, 191 : Destroyed by 
Tadpoles, 195 ; Linnaean descrip- 
tion of the, 387. 

Pike-Pool, Staffordshire, descrip- 
tion of, 337 ; View of, 339. 

Pinto, F. M., references to, and 
account of, 81, 394. 417. 

Pliny, C. S.. references to, 71, 73, 
77, 136, 163, 186, 193, 394; Ac- 
count of, 414. 

Plutarch, references to, 81, 231, 
394. 4i7- 

Poetry, vide Songs, 7, 12, 13, 34, 
48, 73, 74, 75, 76> 77, 84, 85, 
95, 116, 151, 152, 154, 164, 171, 
192, 217, 244, 255, 266, 267, 284, 
286, 326, 401. 

Powell, Dr. R., contributor of the 
Linnaean Arrangement of Fish, 

3 g 3- . . 

Prophets, inspiration of, 69 ; Com- 
parison of, 80. 

Proverbs, various, 46, 48, 94, 124, 
127, 203, 214, 226, 294, 309, 
312. 

Raleigh, Sir VV., Song by, 11ft, 
118, 421 ; Portrait of, 121. 



Raven, various particulars of the, 

55, i°9- 

Red- Worm, 204, 235, 237. 

Rich Men, unhappiness of, 278. 

Ring swallowed by a Salmon, ac- 
count of, 427. 

R ivers, the wonders of, 70 ; Ac- 
counts of the English, 265, 304. 

Roach, observations on, 203, 248: 
Inferior breed of, 249 ; Repre- 
sentation of the, 249 ; How to 
fish for the, 254, 256 ; Linnaean 
description of the, 387. 

Rod, various directions for the, 

277, 323- 

Rome, splendid entertainment of 
Fish there, 62 ; Rarities of, 63. 

Rondeletius, Guil., references to, 
73, 211, 220, 222, 230, 395; Por- 
trait of, 220 ; Account of, 414. 

Rosicrucians, allusion to the, 254 : 
Notice of the, 432. 

Royal Society, reference to the 
transactions of the, 113, 395, 420. 

Ruddy- Fly, how to make, 144. 

Ruds, an inferior Roach, 249. 

Ruffe or Pope, representation of 
the, &c, 236 ; Linnaean descrip- 
tion of the, 385. 

Running-line, how to bait the hook 
of a, 133. 

Sadler, Mr. R., 47; Account of, 

399- 

Sad- Yellow-Fly, how to make, 144. 

Salmon, observations on the, 169 ; 
Leap of the, and verses on ditto, 
170, 171 ; Age and growth of the, 
172 ; Representation of the, 173 ; 
Seasons of the, 42, 173, 248; 
How to fish for the, 174 ; Varie- 
ties of the, in, 176; Linnaean 
description of the, 386. 

Salvian, Hipp., references to, 167, 
395 ; Account of, 426 

Samlet or Skegger-Trout, en- 
graving of the, 108 ; A variation 
of the Salmon, 176 ; Linnaean 
description of the, 385 ; A dis- 
tinct species of fish, 386. 

Sanderson, Dr. R., Portrait of, 1. 

Sandys, G., references to his Trav- 
els, 54, 395 ; Account of, 403. 

Sargus, verses on the, 75. 

Scouring of Worms, directions for, 

r 3 J -. 

Sea, discoveries made by means of 
the, 63 ; Sea-Angler, a Fish so 
called, 75. 



444 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Seneca, L. A., references to, 105, 
419. 

September, Artificial Flies for, 
361. 

Severn River, account of its spring 
and course, 266. 

Shaw, Dr. G., his classification of 
Fishes, 383. 

Sheldon, Dr. G., 232 ; Portrait of, 
234; Account of, 431. 

Shell-Fly, how to make, 145, 360. 

Sheridan, Hon. R. B., his praise of 
the Complete Angler, 26. 

Sidney, Sir P., references to, 326, 
.395, 437- 

Singing Birds, eulogy on, 53. 

Sketch-book, paper on Angling 
from the, 22. 

Snakes, bred by various means, 
183. 

Snaresbrook, Essex, view of, 274. 

Songs, names and references to old, 
117, 124, 420, 421; The Milk- 
maid's, 118, 120, 421, 422; An- 
swer to ditto, 119; Coridon's 
Song, 125; The Beggar's ditto, 
158 ; The Angler's ditto, 127, 
240, 430 ; Kenna's ditto, 425. 

Stickleback, representation of 
the, 261 ; Descriptions and uses 
of the, 135, 263, 385. 

Stone-Fly, 136; Account of the, 
350 ; Birth and Description of, 
356 ; How to make, 144, 357. 

Sussex, Fish peculiar to, no. 

Tackle, directions concerning, 255 ; 

Ditto for making, 274. 
Tawny-Fly, how to make, 144. 
Tench, observations on the, 210 ; 

Medical virtues of the, 211 ; 

Representation of the, 212; Lin- 

naean description of the, 387. 
Thames, River, account of the, 

266 ; Verses on, 266 ; Trouts in, 

108. 
Thatched-House, Herts., 45, 87 ; 

Notice of, 396. 
Theobald's House, 46 ; History of, 

407 ; View of, 437. 
Thorn-tree Fly, how to make, 

345- 
Top, Angling at the, explained, 319. 

321. 
Topsell, Edw., references to, no, 

^ 137, 186, 39s, 418. 
Tottenham High-Cross, 45, 284. 
Tradescant, J., his Museum, 71 ; 

Account of, 413. 



Trent River, account of the, 266, 

3°5- 

Trout, observations on the, 107 ; 
Varieties of the, 108, in, 113; 
Seasons of the, 112, 248 ; How 
to fish for, 122, 142, 16:, 162, 371, 
378: Representation of the, 123; 
Best anglers for the, 249 ; How 
to dress, 36S ; Linnaean descrip- 
tion of the, 386. 

Tyne, notice of the River, 267. 

Tweed, notice of the River, 267. 

Umber, a name of the Grayling, 
166, 167, 168: 

Valdesso, Sign. J., references to his 

works, account of, 412. 
Varro, references to, and account 

of, 54, 62, 402, 406. 
Ventral fins, orders of fishes taken 

from the, 384. 
Violet-Fly, directions for making, 

346- 

Walking-Bait explained, 184. 

Waller, Edm., Verses by, 246 ; 
Portrait of, 247. 

Wall-Fly, a -bait for a Chub, 103. 

Walton, Izaak, his literary charac- 
ter, 1, 33 ; Biographical Sketch 
of, n ; Fac-similes of his writ- 
ing) 7> 33 : His Will, 27 ; Char- 
acter o£ by Cotton, 297 ; Notes 
by, 3i 6 > 337- 

Izaak, Tun., 16, 28, 34, 337, 



Ware, Town of in Herts, view of, 

45- 
Wasps, used as Baits, 203, 221, 

254- 
Wasp-Fly, how to make, 144, 360. 
Water, the praise of, 60 ; A medium 

for sound, 162. 
Frogs, nature of, &c, 186, 



272. 



Snake, account of, 183. 



Wharton, Dr. Tho., 268; Portrait 

of, 269 ; Account of, 407. 
Whirling-Dun-Fly, how to make, 

344, 34°- 

Whitaker, Dr. W., 81 ; Account of, 
417. 

White- Bait, a distinct species of 
fish, 386. 

Willow, experiment with concern- 
ing water, 61. 

Worms, names of, and directions 
concerning, 130, 131 133, 174, 



GENERAL INDEX. 



445 



175, 19b, 204, 212, 237, 252. 371. 
373. 375^. 

Wotton, Sir H., references to, 3, 
83,84, 238, 284, 286, 39s ; Por- 
trait of, 1 ; Account of, 418. 

Wye River, notice of, 306. 

Xenophon, references to, 58, 395, 406. 



Yarrel, W., Esq., treatise on the 
growth of the Salmon, 426. 

Yellow Dun- Fly, how to make, 
144, 346. 

Yellow dye for feathers, 353. 

Zouch, Dr. Tho., his praise of Wal- 
ton, 21. 




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